Agrobacterium tumefaciens is the causal agent of crown gall disease that affects most dicotyledonous plants and is characterized by growth of tumors in the region between the plant stem and root (crown). The development of tumors is the result of a natural transfer process of Agrobacterium spp. genes to the genome of the infected plant. These genes are found on a high molecular weight plasmid denominated Ti (tumor inducing), present in all pathogenic Agrobacterium spp. strains. Two Ti plasmid regions are directly involved in tumor induction. The T-region, which corresponds to the segment of transferred DNA to the plant cells, and the virulence (vir) region, which contains genes involved in the synthesis of proteins required for T-region transfer. This region, when transferred and integrated to the plant cell genome, is called T-DNA (transferred DNA). The genes present in T-DNA encode enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of plant growth regulators, auxin and cytokinin. The synthesis of these regulators by transformed cells results in a hormonal inbalance, leading to the development of tumors where the infection took place. Another group of genes present in T-DNA encodes enzymes required for opine synthesis, which are specifically catabolised by the colonizing bacterium as the source of nutrients. Preliminary knowledge of the molecular basis involved in the infection process of the host plant by Agrobacterium spp. allowed the use of this bacterium as a natural vector for plant genetic transformation.
