Answer:
Transduction
Step-by-step explanation:
Transduction is one of the three processes of genetic recombination in bacteria, the other two being conjugation and transformation. Transduction is the process whereby a viral carrier transfers pieces of chromosomal DNA from one bacterium cell to another during its infection cycle. The viruses that play this role are called BACTERIOPHAGES.
A bacteriophage, like every other virus, is incapable of replicating on its own. Hence, it must infect an host cell in order to do this. The phage infects a bacterial cell by attaching to specific receptor site on the bacterial cell membrane and incorporates its genetic material into its host cell. The virus relies on the bacterium's ability to replicate, transcibe and translate its DNA to replicate itself. During this infection process, a part of the host's DNA gets incorporated into the viral genome. It transfers this foreign DNA into another bacterium cell when it infects it.
Since the bacterial cell undergoes asexual reproduction, it uses either transduction, transformation or conjugation to induce genetic recombination. This is why the genetic content of the observed bacterial cell in the experiment appeared altered.