Description of a new mechanism (“transduction”) for the transfer of genetic characters from one bacterial strain to another.

Working as a graduate student with Lederberg, Zinder discovered that a bacteriophage can carry genes from one bacterium to another. Initial experiments were carried out using Salmonella. Zinder and Lederberg named this process of genetic exchange transduction. Transduction is the process by which foreign DNA is introduced into a cell by a virus or viral vector. It is a common tool used by molecular biologists to stably introduce a foreign gene into a host cell's genome. Digital facsimile from PubMedCentral at this link.