The evolutionary function of natural competence remains controversial and several hypotheses for a function have been proposed. In this Opinion article, Veening and Blokesch propose that kin-discriminated predation that is linked to natural competence serves as a DNA acquisition strategy and therefore contributes to bacterial evolution.

中文翻译：

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细菌间捕食作为天然感受态细菌中 DNA 采集的策略

自然能力的进化功能仍然存在争议，并且已经提出了几种功能假设。在这篇意见文章中，Veening 和 Blokesch 提出与自然能力相关的亲属区分捕食作为一种 DNA 获取策略，因此有助于细菌进化。