Natural competence describes the ability of several bacterial species to take up DNA from the environment for integration into the host chromosome, allowing the acquisition of novel genetic information. Uptake in many species operates via a dynamic pilus structure that pulls DNA through the cell wall into the periplasm by pilus retraction, followed by transport of one of the two DNA strands into the cytosol by an active membrane transporter. How double stranded DNA with a bending contour of hund