How are plasmids passed on to other bacteria?

Plasmids are passed on to other bacteria through a process called conjugation, which involves cell-to-cell contact or a bridge-like connection. Conjugation is a major horizontal gene transfer mechanism in which DNA is passed from a donor bacterium to a recipient bacterium. To simplify, this can be thought of as bacterial sex. Bacterial conjugation is carried out in 4 steps: mating pair formation, generating the channel through which DNA is transferred, generating the ssDNA that is transferred, and maturation. In mating pair formation, the donor cells (F+ cells) create a sex pilus and initiate contact with a F-recipient bacterium. Pilus creates a conjugation tube and induces direct contact between the donor and recipient cells. Then, the F-factor opens at the origin of replication, cutting one strand at the origin in order for the 5’ end to enter the recipient bacterium cell; this is the process of the F- plasmid transfer. Then a complementary strand is synthesized in both the donor and recipient bacterium cells since they both contain a single strand of the F- plasmid. The recipient bacterium now obtains a copy of F plasmid and turns into a donor cell.