What is bacterial transformation used for?

Bacterial transformation is widely used in molecular biology, genetic engineering, and biotechnology for various purposes. It is a critical tool for introducing foreign DNA, such as plasmids, into bacterial cells to study gene function, produce recombinant proteins, or create genetically modified organisms. In pharmaceutical research, it is employed to produce medications like insulin and vaccines. Transformation is also used in agricultural research to engineer crops with improved traits and in environmental studies to investigate microbial adaptation and evolution.