Transfer DNA

[1] The capability of this specialized tumor-inducing (Ti) plasmid is attributed to two essential regions required for DNA transfer to the host cell.

The bacterial virulence genes' expression of approximately 10 operons is activated by perception of phenolic compounds such as acetosyringone emitted by wounded plant tissue and follows cell-cell contact.

The integration of T-DNA into a host genome involves the formation of a single-stranded nick in the DNA at the right border of the Ti plasmid.

Agrobacterium vir gene expression occurs via the VirA-VirG sensor that results in generation of a mobile single-stranded T-DNA copy (T-strand).

Several other bacterial virulence effectors like VirB5, VirB7 (the minor components of the T-complex), VirD5, VirE2, VirE3, and VirF that may also interact with proteins of host plant cells.

For more than two decades, Agrobacterium tumefaciens has been exploited for introducing genes into plants for basic research as well as for commercial production of transgenic crops.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens is capable of transferring foreign DNA to both monocotyledons and dicotyledonous plants efficiently while taking care of critically important factors like the genotype of plants, types and ages of tissues inoculated, kind of vectors, strains of Agrobacterium, selection marker genes and selective agents, and various conditions of tissue culture.

[15] Reverse genetics involves testing the presumed function of a gene that is known by disrupting it and then looking for the effect of that induced mutation on the organismal phenotype.

Collections of known T-DNA mutations provide resources to study the functions of individual genes, as developed for the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.