The researchers found that uptake of the DNA was more frequent for longer stretches of DNA, but that the bacteria could also grab units tens of bp in length. It didn't matter if the DNA was damaged, either. Offering the bacteria DNA with nicks, gaps, or other injuries didn't change the frequency with which they usurped the sequences. “To our surprise, [DNA damage] had little impact on the transformation. The length of the DNA is the major defining characteristic” of DNA uptake, Overballe-Petersen told The Scientist.