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Function of the Ti-Plasmid Vir Proteins: T-Complex Formation and Transfer to the Plant Cell

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The Rhizobiaceae

Abstract

T-DNA transfer from Agrobacterium tumefaciens to plant cells is apparently the unique process of trans-kingdom genetic exchange that occurs naturally with detectable efficiency. This transfer mechanism seems to be exceptionally broad host-range, since Agrobacterium spp. can also transfer the T-DNA to yeast (Bundock et al., 1995; Piers et al., 1996). In spite of its uniqueness, the mechanism used by Agrobacterium to infect plant cells is very similar to the universal mechanism for bacterial genetic exchange: conjugation. It would be rewarding to understand one day why a specific bacterium, and only this bacterium, possesses such a powerful adaptation mechanism of survival as an interkingdom transfer mechanism, which it exercises very efficiently, while the rest of bacteria, which would have doubtlessly also benefited from it, has been incapable of acquiring this evolutionary tool.

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de la Cruz, F., Lanka, E. (1998). Function of the Ti-Plasmid Vir Proteins: T-Complex Formation and Transfer to the Plant Cell. In: Spaink, H.P., Kondorosi, A., Hooykaas, P.J.J. (eds) The Rhizobiaceae. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5060-6_14

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