Editing Escherichia coli (section)

===Genetic adaptation===

''E. coli'' and related bacteria possess the ability to transfer [[DNA]] via [[bacterial conjugation]] or [[transduction (genetics)|transduction]], which allows genetic material to [[Horizontal gene transfer|spread horizontally]] through an existing population. The process of transduction, which uses the bacterial virus called a [[bacteriophage]],<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Brüssow H, Canchaya C, Hardt WD | title = Phages and the evolution of bacterial pathogens: from genomic rearrangements to lysogenic conversion | journal = Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews | volume = 68 | issue = 3 | pages = 560–602, table of contents | date = September 2004 | pmid = 15353570 | pmc = 515249 | doi = 10.1128/MMBR.68.3.560-602.2004 }}</ref> is where the spread of the gene encoding for the [[Shiga toxin]] from the ''[[Shigella]]'' bacteria to ''E. coli'' helped produce [[Escherichia coli O157:H7|''E. coli'' O157:H7]], the Shiga toxin-producing strain of ''E. coli.''