Conjugation

From the human perspective, one of the significant consequences of a bacterium's ability to pass genetic information along to other cells via conjugation is its link to the widespread incidence of antibiotic resistance. The genes that encode for resistance to a variety of antibiotics like penicillin and tetracycline are commonly found on plasmids. When a population of susceptible bacteria is exposed to a given antibiotic, most of them will be killed. However, if the population contains cells with conjugative plasmids bearing the genes for resistance, they can rapidly spread the trait throughout the population. These plasmids are large and are often promiscuous, so that transfer of antibiotic resistance genes need not be restricted to cells of like species. In some cases, this has resulted in disease-causing bacteria that are resistant to almost every antibiotic available. For instance, antibiotic resistant tuberculosis bacteria are a significant public health threat in some metropolitan areas.