Genetic transformation of plants by Agrobacterium, which in nature causes neoplastic growths, represents the only known case of trans-kingdom DNA transfer. Furthermore, under laboratory conditions, Agrobacterium can also transform a wide range of other eukaryotic species, from fungi to sea urchins to human cells. How can the Agrobacterium virulence machinery function in such a variety of evolut...

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Morphological mutants were isolated from a wild strain of Agrobacterium tumefaciens at a high frequency by treatment with a nitrosoguanidine. Seventeen of the 20 mutants isolated were temperature-sensitive. At 27 C, the mutant cells were rod-shaped and at 37 C, spherical or branched, whereas the wild-type cells were rod-shaped at both temperatures.

High transformation efficiency is a prerequisite for study of gene function and molecular breeding. Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation is a preferred method in many plants. However, the transformation efficiency in soybean is still low. The objective of this study is to optimize Agrobacterium-mediated transformation in soybean by improving the infection efficiency of Agrobacteriu...

Agrobacterium tumefaciens biovar 1 strain 186 was isolated from a walnut tree expressing crown gall symptoms. The draft genome sequence of this strain harbored genes for crown gall formation and will be useful for understanding its virulence on Paradox, the predominant hybrid rootstock used for the cultivation of English walnut in California.

An effective transformation protocol for Dunaliella, a β-carotene producer, was developed using the synergistic mechanism of D-glucose and Acetosyringone on three different Agrobacterium strains (EHA105, GV3101 and LBA4404). In the present study, we investigated the pre-induction of Agrobacterium strains harboring pMDC45 binary vector in TAP media at varying concentrations of D-glucose (5 mM, 1...

Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation is an extremely complex and evolved process involving genetic determinants of both the bacteria and the host plant cells. However, the mechanism of the determinants remains obscure, especially in some cereal crops such as wheat, which is recalcitrant for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. In this study, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and di...

Agrobacterium are Alphaproteobacteria common in most soils that closely interact with plants in two respects. Firstly, and as a general trait of the whole taxon, they are rhizospheric bacteria saprophytically living in the root environment (i.e. rhizosphere) of numerous plants. Rhizospheric interactions are generally considered to be of commensal type with no detrimental effect to the plant, bu...