Not quite, bacteria reproduce through binary fission, one cell becoming two and so forth. In general bacteria themselves are not able to naturally take on the genetic material of other bacterial organisms, since they do not recombine for reproduction. Where genetic material from one type of bacteria is introduced into another, is through bacterial phages, viruses that infect bacteria. Viruses reproduce by hijacking the host internal machinery; this includes reproduction of its genetic material as well as proteins for the construction of the various structural elements of the new virus. The virus then is either “shed”/released from the host cell’s membrane/cell wall or is released when the cell is lysed/”blown up”. The bacterial phage/virus can and does incorporate genetic material from the host cell (i.e. antibiotic resistance, pathogenic factors, etc.) and then passes it along to the next bacteria it infects.

Pete