Now, conjugation, in a way, is a mating process because it involves two individual bacterial cells. Now, before we actually discuss what conjugation is, let's discuss what types of DNA molecules are found inside our prokaryotic cells, inside bacterial cells. Now, aside from having the main circular DNA molecule inside the bacterial cells, most bacterial cells also contain small circular DNA molecules known as plasmids. And some of these plasmids basically contain the genes that code for proteins which give the cell resistance to drugs and other antibiotics. So basically, conjugation is a type of mating process because it involves two individual bacterial cells. And aside from the circular DNA that codes for most of the bacterial proteins, these bacterial cells contain additional DNA called plasmids.