Illustration depicting the process of bacterial transduction, the transfer of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid, ring) from one bacterium to another through a virus. The first step shows a bacteriophage virus (silver) infecting a bacterial cell (red and yellow). In the second stage, the bacteriophage takes control of the cell's machinery and replicates its own viral DNA producing new virus particles and breaking the cell (lysis) to release them. As the viruses multiply, they occasionally remove a portion of the bacterial DNA (red scribble). In the third stage, a bacteriophage infects a new host cell and incorporates this fragment of bacterial DNA into its genome. In the fourth stage, this fragment is replicated in the offspring of the new host cell.