Crown gall of walnut (Juglans sp.), caused by the bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens, greatly impacts the CA walnut industry. To determine the genetic diversity of A. tumefaciens throughout the Central Valley of CA, we collected isolates from 12 walnut growing counties. A total of 340 A. tumefaciens biovar 1 isolates were collected and tested for the presence of the Ti plasmid by PCR; 267 isol...

The nutritional requirements of the tumor-inducing phytopathogenic bacteria and soil saprophytes which Conn (1942) has placed in the genus Agrobacterium have received somewhat more attention than have the requirements of most of the other groups of plant-disease bacteria. It is clear from the literature (Sagen, Riker, and Baldwin, 1934; Riker, Lyneis, and Locke, 1941; Hofer, 1941) that the crow...

Twenty four diverse cultivars of soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merrill) and three lines of its annual wild progenitor Glycine soja Sieb and Zucc. were tested for their response to Agrobacterium strains harboring either the Ti (tumor-inducing) plasmid (pTi) from Agrobacterium tumefaciens or the Ri (root-inducing) plasmid (pRi) from Agrobacterium rhizogenes following uniform wounding and inoculation....

Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation is an effective method for introducing genes into maize. In this chapter, we describe a detailed protocol for genetic transformation of the maize genotype Hi II. Our starting plant material is immature embryos cocultivated with an Agrobacterium strain carrying a standard binary vector. In addition to step-by-step laboratory transformation proced...

The Erwinia uredovora crtB, crtE, crtI, and crtY genes required for beta-carotene biosynthesis were introduced by conjugal transfer into an ethanol-producing bacterium, Zymomonas mobilis, and a phytopathogenic bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, in which no carotenoid is synthesized. The transconjugants of Z. mobilis and A. tumefaciens carrying these genes appeared as yellow colonies and prod...

Anguillospora longissima, isolated from root as endophytic freshwater hyphomycetes, was evaluated for its bioactivity (antibacterial potential) against five bacterial strains, namely, Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis MTCC 121) and Gram-negative (Agrobacterium tumefaciens MTCC 609, Escherichia coli MTCC 40, Erwinia chrysanthemum, and Xanthomonas pseudomonas). Antimicrobial activity was assessed ...

Agrobacterium tumefaciens B-6 and T-37 strains, inoculated into Nicotiana glauca, N. langsdorffii, and their interspecific hybrid, which forms genetic (spontaneous) tumors as well, initiate amorphous tumors from the B-6 strain and organoid tumors (aberrant roots, stems, and buds) from the T-37 strain. In the hybrid, the critical point was to induce crown gall tumors at the site of wounding and ...

Agrobacterium tumefaciens is an important plant pathogen which belongs to the α-proteobacteria. In addition, it has served as the main tool for plant molecular genetics. Here we focus on three major aspects: (i) proteomic mapping, (ii) the use of proteomics for the understanding of the response of A. tumefaciens to changes in environmental conditions and (iii) the analysis of the changes in gen...

Bacteria of the genus Agrobacterium are very useful and unusual plant pathogens. Through a rare interkingdom DNA transfer, the bacteria move some of their genes into their host’s genome, thereby inducing the host cells to proliferate. The result is uncontrolled cell growth leading to a tumor (as induced by Agrobacterium tumefaciens and Agrobacterium vitis) or excessive production of roots (as i...