Introduction: Agrobacterium-mediated
Transformation
- Agrobacterium-mediated transformation takes advantage
of the natural pathogenic activity of the soil bacterium Agrobacterium
tumefaciens. A. tumefaciens infects the roots & stems
of dicotyledonous plants resulting in the cancerous growths (galls)
characteristic of crown gall disease. Infection is directed by
the tumor inducing (Ti) plasmid (below), by the insertion of
specific genes (T-DNA) into the genome of infected plant cells.
Plant bioengineering replaces natural T-DNA sequences to make
transgenics.
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- In the current study, immature
rice embryos are subjected to infection by A. tumefaciens
with genetically modified T-DNA.
