In the pathogenic bacterium Neisseria meningitidis (meningococci), competence for transformation is a highly evolved and complex process where multiple proteins at the bacterial surface, in the membranes and in the cytoplasm interact with the incoming transforming DNA.
Some viruses have evolved ways of subverting the restriction modification system, usually by modifying their own DNA, by adding methyl or glycosyl groups to it, thus blocking the restriction enzymes.