File: Plasmid episome.png

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Description : This image shows a line drawing that compares the activity of non-integrating plasmids, on the top, with episomes, on the bottom, during cell division. The upper half of the image shows a bacterium with its chromosomal DNA and plasmids dividing into two identical bacteria, each with their chromosomal DNA and plasmids. The lower half of the image shows a bacterium with its chromosomal DNA, but with an episome. Next to this bacterium, we see the same bacterium, but after the episome has integrated into the chromosomal DNA and has become a part of it. This second bacterium now divides into two bacteria identical to it, each with an episome integrated into it.