Genetic Turnover High at DNA “Hotspots”

The ability of bacteria to take a record of previous threats to its fitness via the uptake of some of the genetic material of the offender—known as its immunological memory—allows it to survive future attacks. Bacteria can gain this historical information via genetic exchange with other bacteria, as well—but the process of gene transfer itself can disrupt the rest of the genome. Thus, the very mechanism that protects bacteria—conferring resistance to antibiotics, novel vi