A Novel Approach to Identify Plant Genes Involved in Agrobacterium-mediated Transformation

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PROJECT ABSTRACT:Title: Identification of plant genes involved in Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation (this proposal)Principal Investigator: Kirankumar Mysore Proposal: 0445799Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a soil bacterium that can cause crown gall disease in plants. A. tumefaciens genetically transforms plants by transferring its T-DNA into the plant cell nucleus and integrating into the plant chromosome. Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation is the most common and preferred method to produce transgenic plants. In spite of significant progress in Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation techniques, it is still not easy to genetically transform several important crops like corn and soybean using A. tumefaciens. A better understanding of this unique inter-kingdom DNA transfer between Agrobacterium and plants will help improve the crop transformation efficiency and to prevent crown gall disease on economically important fruit crops like grapes. The PI has proposed a novel genetic approach to identify the plant genes that are involved during Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation. This approach uses a technique called virus-induced gene silencing to transiently knockout or to reduce the expression of a plant gene. This approach is very fast and robust compared to currently used approaches to identify plant factors involved in Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. This approach will not only identify novel plant genes involved in Agrobacterium-mediated transformation but will also characterize the genes that have been speculated to be involved in plant transformation. Broader Impacts: Results from the proposed research will help to improve the transformation efficiency of plants that are currently recalcitrant to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and also to generate transgenic plants that will be resistant to crown gall disease. This can produce a significant economic impact on United States agriculture. The PI participates in established programs that provide extended education to high school teachers and a large summer intern program that promote enhanced learning and hands-on experience. The Proposed project will contribute significantly to continuation and enhancement of the se programs and also will provide training for one postdoctoral fellow and two summer student interns in highly technical and multidisciplinary approaches.