Agrobacterium biology and crown gall disease

The crown gall tumors produced in dicotyledonous plants by Agrobacterium tumefaciens results from the introduction of a segment of DNA (T-DNA), derived from its tumor-inducing (Ti) plasmid, into plant cells at the infected site. This disease can cause significant economic losses in perennial crops worldwide. Besides their natural hosts, Agrobacterium can deliver the T-DNA also to monocotyledonous plants, mammalian cells, yeasts, fungi and other prokaryotes, which makes it one of the most well researched organisms and as well as a promising tool for modern plant breeding. Promising future controls of this disease will include employment of biological control agents; understanding the disease signaling pathways in plants and adopting transgenic approaches for generating crown-gall resistant plants.