transformation

In this image, a gene from one bacterial cell is moved to another bacterial cell. This process of the second bacterial cell taking up new genetic material is called transformation.

In molecular biology and genetics, transformation is the genetic alteration of a bacterial cell resulting from the direct uptake and incorporation of exogenous genetic material from its surroundings through the cell membrane(s). For transformation to take place, the recipient bacterium must be in a state of competence, which might occur in nature as a time-limited response to environmental conditions such as starvation and cell density, and may also be induced in a laboratory.