Transformation is defined as the process by which bacteria can incorporate exogenous DNA from the environment into their genome via direct uptake. Transduction and conjugation are also processes by which exogenous DNA is incorporated, but involve other methods.

Prokaryotes lack a nuclear membrane, which allows translation to occur at the same time as transcription.

In eukaryotic cells the mRNA has to be exported to the cytoplasm before it can be translated. This transport requires post-transcriptional modification to protect the mRNA from degradation as it leaves the nucleus, a process unnecessary to prokaryotic cells. Both prokaryotes and eukaryotes can have cell walls and cytoplasts (cytoplasm). Prokaryotes do, in fact, generate proton gradients in order to complete cellular respiration. These gradients are created across the prokaryotic cell membrane, rather than across the mitochondrial membrane.

Transformation is the uptake of nucleic acid by competent cells, as was described in this question. Conjugation invovles cell-to-cell DNA transfer and transduction involves the use of a viral vector.

The use of bacteriophage viral vectors to transmit genetic information is transduction, an alternative form of genetic modification to transformation or conjugation. Transformation involves direct uptake of genetic material. Conjugation involves cell-to-cell transfer of DNA.

The question states that the antibiotic halts the bacterial cell division. Recall that mitosis is a form of asexual reproduction that produces two diploid daughter cells with identical DNA. Mitosis, however, is only found in eukaryotic cells. The analogous asexual reproduction in prokaryotic cells is called binary fission. In binary fission, bacterial cells replicate their circular DNA in such a way that the end products are two double-stranded, circular DNA molecules. Each DNA molecule migrates to opposite ends of the cell and the cell splits into two new daughter cells with identical DNA. The question asks about the effect of the antibiotic on mitosis; since the process doesn’t occur in prokaryotic cells, mitosis is irrelevant to this question.

Prokaryotic cells can reproduce either sexually and asexually. In a bacterial cell, sexual reproduction occurs via three different methods: conjugation, transformation, and transduction. Conjugation involves the exchange of genetic material (plasmids) between bacterial cells through a bridge called the sex pilus. Transformation involves the incorporation of extracellular DNA from the environment. Transduction involves the transmission of genetic material from one bacterial cell to another by a viral vector. These three processes are considered forms of sexual reproduction because all of them involve genetic recombination.

Prokaryotic cells can reproduce asexually only through binary fission. Binary fission is the process by which a bacterial cell splits into two identical daughter cells. This is a very fast process and contributes to the rapid growth and replication of bacteria.

Mitosis and meiosis are only found in eukaryotic cells. Mitosis is a form of asexual reproduction and meiosis is a form of sexual reproduction, since it involves genetically unique daughter cells. Binary fission is the prokaryotic analog of mitosis, but is a distinctly different process.

Endospores are produced by gram-positive bacteria and can lie dormant for years. Endospores are crucial to growth of gram-positive bacteria because they resist harsh conditions such as extreme temperatures, ultraviolet radiation, and many chemicals. Endospores are not used by fungi by any means. They are also uninvolved in the reproductive processes of bacteria. 

Mitosis is a form of asexual reproduction in which genetic recombination does not take place; the daughter cells are identical to the parent cell. Prokaryotes are able to divide asexually using binary fission, producing two exact copies of the parent cell. The mechanisms governing binary fission are quite different from those governing mitosis, but the end result is the same.

The other three options are examples in which prokaryotic genetic recombination takes place. Conjugation involves the transfer of genetic material between two bacteria via a sex pilus. Transduction is the transfer of genetic material to a bacterium via a vector, such as a bacteriophage. Transformation occurs when the bacterium uptakes exogenous DNA from the environment.

We must first find out how long a doubling cycle is for this strain.  We can determine the following relationships from the information in the question.

So, in two hours, the bacteria has undergone three doubling cycles from 20000 to 160000. That means the doubling time is one-third of two hours, or one-third of 120 minutes.

The doubling time is 40 minutes.

The bacteria will undergo 15 doubling cycles in 600 minutes, or ten hours.

Protists, fungi, plants, and animals are eukaryotic, while bacteria are prokaryotic. The rest of the answer choices are characteristic of prokaryotic cells.