What happens in bacterial transformation?

In bacterial transformation, a series of events occur: (1) preparation of the bacterial cells to make them competent for DNA uptake, (2) introduction of foreign DNA, such as plasmids, (3) uptake of DNA into the cell through the cell membrane, (4) recovery phase where cells repair their membranes and begin expressing the introduced genes, and (5) selection and identification of successfully transformed cells, typically using markers like antibiotic resistance.