How does horizontal transfer affect the evolution of anti-biotic resistant strains of bacteria?A. It increases the rate of beneficial mutations within a population of bacteria. Solution The horizontal transfer affect the evolution of anti-biotic resistant strains of bacteria, as It increases the speed with which bacteria can adapt because they may have gotten resistance genes from another species already. Three main mechanism of horizontal transfer of gene occurs are transformation, transduction or conjugation. Transformation involves uptake of short fragments of naked DNA by naturally transformable bacteria. In transduction, DNA transfer occurs from one bacterium into another via bacteriophages. In conjugation, transfer of genetic material occurs between bacterial cells by direct cell-to-cell contact or by a bridge-like connection between two bacterial cells..