transduces

Transduces is the third-person singular present tense form of the verb transduce, which comes from the Latin transducere meaning “to lead across” or “to transfer from one form to another.” In general usage, to transduce means to convert something from one form to another or to transfer information, energy, or material from one system into another. In scientific contexts, transduction has specific senses related to signaling and gene transfer.

In biology, transduce is used to describe how a signal is converted within a cell. For example, a receptor transduces an external stimulus into intracellular changes that elicit a response, often via signaling cascades and second messengers. The term is also used in bacteriology to describe transduction, the process by which genetic material is transferred from one bacterium to another by a bacteriophage; a phage transduces donor genes into a recipient cell during infection. In broader biotechnology, transduction may refer to the introduction of genetic material into cells by viral or nonviral methods, though this usage is context-dependent.

In engineering and physics, transduction refers to the conversion of one form of energy or information into another. Devices called transducers perform this role; for example, microphones transduce acoustic energy into electrical signals, and receptors in sensors transduce environmental stimuli into measurable data.

See also transduction, transducer, signal transduction, bacteriophage transduction. Examples of usage include “the receptor transduces the signal” and “the virus transduces genetic material during infection.”