Agrobacterium is a plant pathogen which causes the “crown-gall” disease, a neoplastic growth that results from the transfer of a well-defined DNA segment (“transferred DNA”, or “T-DNA”) from the bacterial Ti (tumor-inducing) plasmid to the host cell, its integration into the host genome, and the expression of oncogenes contained on the T-DNA.

Agrobacterium: A disease-causing bacterium.- A Brief History of Research on Agrobacterium Tumefaciens: 1900–1980s.- Agrobacterium and Plant Biotechnology.- The Agrobacterium Tumefaciens C58 Genome.- Agrobacterium—Taxonomy of Plant-Pathogenic Rhizobium Species.- The Initial Steps in Agrobacterium Tumefaciens Pathogenesis: Chemical Biology of Host Recognition.- Agrobacterium-Host Attachment and Biofilm Formation.- Production of a Mobile T-DNA by Agrobacterium Tumefaciens.- Translocation of Oncogenic T-DNA and Effector Proteins to Plant Cells.- Intracellular Transport of Agrobacterium T-DNA.- Mechanisms of T-DNA integration.- Agrobacterium Tumefaciens-Mediated Transformation: Patterns of T-Dna Integration Into the Host Genome.- Function of Host Proteins in The Agrobacterium-Mediated Plant Transformation Process.- The Oncogenes of Agrobacterium Tumefaciens and Agrobacterium Rhizogenes.- Biology of Crown Gall Tumors.- The Cell-Cell Communication System of Agrobacterium Tumefaciens.- Horizontal Gene Transfer.- Agrobacterium-Mediated Transformation of Non-Plant Organisms.- The Bioethics and Biosafety of Gene Transfer.- Agrobacterium-Mediated Gene Transfer: A Lawyer’s Perspective.

Agrobacterium is the only cellular organism on Earth that is naturally capable of transferring genetic material between the kingdoms of life, from prokaryotes to eukaryotes. Studies have uncovered a wealth of information on the process of Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation and on the bacterial and host cell factors involved in the infection. Agrobacterium has been shown to genetically transform, under laboratory conditions a large number of plant species and numerous non-plant organisms, indicating the truly basic nature of the transformation process. It is therefore not surprising that Agrobacterium and the genetic transformation itself have also become the focus of numerous ethical and legal debates.

‘Agrobacterium’ is a comprehensive book on Agrobacterium research, including its history, application, basic biology discoveries, and effects on human society. Although the book largely focuses on providing a detailed review of virtually all molecular events of the genetic transformation process, it also provides coverage of ethical and legal issues relevant to the use of Agrobacterium as a "genetic transformation machine". The result is an all-inclusive text which readers—including scientists and students involved in plant genetic engineering—will find useful as a reference source for all major aspects of the Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation of plant and non-plant organisms.

About the Editors:

Dr. Tzvi Tzfira is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Vitaly Citovsky is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University.

The only complete overview of all aspects of agrobacterium in the plant sciences Deals with various aspects of the biology of the diseases caused by agrobacterium Covers the basics of the bacteria itself, the mapping of its genome, through to its use in plant transformation and biotechnology Delves into the questions of ethics and law in the biotechnological applications of Agrobacterium

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