Description
Amer Phytopathological Society Agrobacterium Tumefaciens From Plant Pathology To Biotechnology by Eugene Nester
This anthology traces the fascinating progress from plant pathology to biotechnology through 38 scientific papers on Agrobacterium, published over the past century. Included are the seminal scientific papers on the biology and application of Agrobacterium with introductory commentaries mostly by those involved in the original work. The commentaries give background to the papers and explain the problems faced and the techniques used, providing insight into the way fundamental research progresses.Agrobacterium tumefaciens: From Plant Pathology to Biotechnology is divided into five sections. The first section begins with 1904 when Erwin F. Smith began detailed work on crown gall and considered it to be a plant pathological problem. It explores many of the biological discoveries made over the past century, including the pivotal moment when Armin C. Braun discovered that crown gall was a plant cancer. Other papers cover the beginnings of T-DNA research and the development of vectors to improve the process of transferring T-DNA from bacterium to plant cell. The second section delves further into vector systems and genetic coding for disease and insect resistance, exploring the evolution of genetic engineering in crops. The final three sections deal with themes developed from crown gall studies, including "quorum sensing" or population density, the DNA sequencing of one strain of A. tumefaciens, and the first genetically engineered organism, strain K1026, released for commercial use.Students, professors, plant pathologists, microbiologists, or anyone interested in research and/or the history of plant pathology and biotechnology, will find this collection of papers an intriguing read.From the Preface: "the journey is not over. As the commentary by Paul Hooykaas indicates, it looks as though T-DNA will insert into any cell, be it plant, fungal or even mammalian. Is there a possibility of using Agro¬bacterium in gene therapy? Will Agrobacterium prove to be as useful a tool in fungal genetics as it has been in plant genetics? Its potential is mind-boggling."