Final answer:
The bacterial transformation process entails DNA uptake through receptors, digestion of one DNA strand, and integration of the complementary donor DNA strand into the host chromosome.
Step-by-step explanation:
The transformation process in bacteria involves uptake of DNA from the environment through receptor sites on the bacterial cell surface, where one strand of the incoming DNA is typically digested. The process continues with the integration of donor DNA into a homologous region of the host chromosome. This is achieved by aligning the complementary strand with the bacterial chromosome, facilitating the replacement of the original bacterial DNA segment which then gets degraded.
A key reason why bacteria convert environmental DNA into a single-stranded form during the transformation process is to protect it from degradation by nucleases, which are less effective against single-stranded DNA. This single-stranded DNA has a better opportunity to recombine with the bacterial genome, potentially conferring new phenotypic characteristics to the bacterial cell, such as pathogenicity or antibiotic resistance.