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F-plasmid
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<p>The F-plasmid (first named F by one of its discoverers <a href="/facts/Esther_Lederberg/4PAMeqff">Esther Lederberg</a>；also called the sex factor in <i><a href="/facts/E._coli/nR4Gvl56">E. coli</a></i>，the F sex factor, the fertility factor, or simply the F factor) allows genes to be transferred from one bacterium carrying the factor to another bacterium lacking the factor by <a href="/facts/Bacterial_conjugation/WfeyKYC4">conjugation</a>. The F factor was the first <a href="/facts/Plasmid/yf59JVlA">plasmid</a> to be discovered. Unlike other plasmids, F factor is constitutive for transfer proteins due to a mutation in the gene <i>finO</i>. The F plasmid belongs to F-like plasmids, a class of conjugative plasmids that control sexual functions of bacteria with a fertility inhibition (Fin) system. </p>