Abstract

A common method for the transfer of genes into dicotyledonous plants is to use the plant pathogen Agrobacterium (Grant et al. 1991; Zambryski 1992). In nature, plant cells infected by this soil bacterium integrate segments of the large tumor-inducing (Ti) plasmid of A. tumefaciens or the root-inducing (Ri) plasmid of A. rhizogenes into their nuclear genomes, leading to crown gall or hairy root disease, respectively (Fig. 1). The transferred segment, called T-DNA, contains genes for opine biosynthesis and phytohormone biosynthesis (Ti) or sensitivity (Ri). Products of virulence (vir) genes located on a nontransferred segment of the Ti or Ri plasmid are responsible for excision of the T-DNA for transfer into the plant cell, and possibly for chromosomal integration in the nucleus of the recipient cell (Zambryski 1992). Transferred genes often act as dominant Mendelian alleles, with about 75% of the R1 or selfed progeny carrying the transgenes.

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