Updated By: LatestGKGS Desk
Agriculture: Agrobacterium Pathology and Ti Plasmid based Vector Design
Agrobacterium tumefaciens are a gram-negative, rod-shaped bacteria known to cause crown gall disease in over 140 different species of plants, primarily dicot-angiosperms and gymnosperms.
A. tumefaciens is an alphaproteobacterium of the family Rhizobiaceae, which includes the nitrogen-fixing legume symbionts. Unlike the nitrogen-fixing symbionts, tumour-producing Agrobacterium species are pathogenic and do not benefit the plant.
The wide variety of plants affected by Agrobacterium makes it of great concern to the agriculture industry. The name of this bacterium has been recently updated as Rhizobium radiobacter.
Although it is harmful to crops and farmers, the understanding of the basic mechanism of disease-causing abilities of this bacteria has opened enormous opportunities for plant genetic engineers.
These bacteria contain a large plasmid named Ti plasmid, which is the causative agent of crown gall disease in plants. In fact, this bacterium is a natural genetic engineer in itself that can transfer a piece of its own DNA (T-DNA) into the plant cell and force the plant cells to synthesize metabolites (opines) for its own survival.
Genetic engineers used this mechanism of gene transfer for developing vectors. The pathology of crown gall disease, mechanism of DNA transfer and strategy for the development of cloning vectors.
