Gene transfer to plants by diverse species of bacteria

Abstract

Agrobacterium is widely considered to be the only bacterial genus capable of transferring genes to plants. When suitably modified, Agrobacterium has become the most effective vector for gene transfer in plant biotechnology. However, the complexity of the patent landscape has created both real and perceived obstacles to the effective use of this technology for agricultural improvements by many public and private organizations worldwide. Here we show that several species of bacteria outside the Agrobacterium genus can be modified to mediate gene transfer to a number of diverse plants. These plant-associated symbiotic bacteria were made competent for gene transfer by acquisition of both a disarmed Ti plasmid and a suitable binary vector. This alternative to Agrobacterium-mediated technology for crop improvement, in addition to affording a versatile 'open source' platform for plant biotechnology, may lead to new uses of natural bacteria-plant interactions to achieve plant transformation.

Agriculture in the developing world: Connecting innovations in plant research to downstream applications

“…I would urge all scientists to become familiar with the goals of Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture (PIPRA) and to make sure that licensing policy for any patented invention of theirs is done to keep available rights for the use of that discovery for humanitarian purposes. Scientists should also study the strategy for the open-source licensing proposed by the BIOS initiative; as an example of how this may work, Richard Jefferson, the founder of this initiative, has agreed to make discoveries such as his recent development of an alternative to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation freely available under an open-source model in which users are free to use the technology but must keep all improvements within the public domain (49). The exciting new work on the modeling of complex interactive networks, such as that being done with Caenorhabditis elegans (50), might be an example of the type of activity that Arabidopsis gurus could take up as a highly interactive project where data are freely shared and based upon open-source concepts.…”

“…For the benefit of African agriculture, the relatively new African Agricultural Technology Foundation has been established by Africans to help negotiate access to private-sector technologies and to assist with stewardship issues. Access to public-sector technologies should become increasingly easy to obtain due to the interest in new models for licensing of technologies by organizations like the Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture and the Biological Innovation for an Open Society (BIOS) initiative of CAMBIA (49). I would urge all scientists to become familiar with the goals of Public Intellectual Property Resource for Agriculture (PIPRA) and to make sure that licensing policy for any patented invention of theirs is done to keep available rights for the use of that discovery for humanitarian purposes.…”

Double-stranded DNA introduction into intact plants using peptide–DNA complexes

“…The Agrobacteriummediated method (Broothaerts et al 2005), particle bombardment (Boynton et al 1988, Galbraith 2007, and polyethylene glycol method (Miranda et al 1992) are well-established and practical plant transformation methods. Despite their advantages, their disadvantages include the requirement of expensive equipment, risk of gene damage, low transformation efficiency, transgene size limitations, and limitations of applicable plant species.…”

Risks from GMOs due to Horizontal Gene Transfer

“…This mechanism of translocating genetic material across the eukaryotic membrane has been experimentally adapted to introduce genes into yeast (Bundock et al, 1995;Piers et al, 1996), filamentous fungi (de Groot et al, 1998) and mammalian cells Risks from GMOs due to Horizontal Gene Transfer (Kunik et al, 2001). Other types of bacteria have also been modified to transfer genes to yeast or plants by the same mechanism (Broothaerts et al, 2005;Heinemann and Sprague, 1989).…”