ENHANCED PLANT CELL TRANSFORMATION BY ADDITION OF HOST GENES INVOLVED IN T-DNA INTEGRATION

摘要

Adding at least one gene involved in plant host cell T-DNA integrationenhances transformation by Agrobacterium.The histone H2A gene encoded by the Arabidopsis RAT5 gene increasestransformation frequencies of plants, most likely by causingoverexpession of a product needed for T-DNA integration. Agrobacteriumtumefaciens genetically transforms plant cells bytransferring a portion of the bacterial Ti-plasmid, designated the T-DNA, tothe plant, and integrating the T-DNA into the plant genome.However, not all plants are transformable by Agrobacterium and transformationfrequencies may be too low to be useful. Little isknown about the T-DNA integration process, and no plant genes involved inintegration have been identified prior to the presentinvention.