Sample Essay
Words 2,120
Agrobacterium tumerfaciens is a bacteria generally used by biotechnology engineers around the world to genetically transform plants. In nature, this microbe is liable for inducing a tumor-based pathogenesis known as Crown-Gall disease pictured at right. The cancerous growth is caused by the genetic transformation of the plant by the microbe. Agrobacterium is not only a naturally happening interspecies genetic transformer, but some of the sequences it is inserting were stolen previously from a plant at some point in its history. The Agrobacteria is an excellent model of interspecies gene transfer and genetic construction in action.
Through the transfer of a portion of plasmid DNA called the T-DNA, the Agrobacterium forces the plant cells to make an amino acid (opines) that only the bacteria can metabolize as a fuel source. The single cell organism basically parasitizes the plant by inserting foreign DNA that the plant translates into unusable protein. In addition to the genes that code for opines, the Agrobacterium also inserts other genes to cause a tumor or uncontrolled replication of malformed cells.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this natural interspecies gene transfer is the fact that the genes the bacteria is inserting are under the control of plant regulators, and the tumor-inducing genes are not of a bacterial origin, but plant growth regulators. The Agrobacterium is using genes to execute this parasitism that it was likely not created with, but instead, their very specific use suggests that bacteria generally have the skill to assemble DNA constructs through genetic recombination, and commonly use foreign sequences during such procedures.
Thank you for visiting Essaydemon.com and viewing our articles and sample papers. Kindly be informed that all these articles and sample papers are for marketing purposes only. The sole purpose of these articles and sample papers is just to provide our customers with an idea about our services before they place an order.
Kindly visit our order/inquiry page for further assistance.
Kindly order custom made Essays, Term Papers, Research Papers, Thesis, Dissertation, Assignment, Book Reports, Reviews, Presentations, Projects, Case Studies, Coursework, Homework, Creative Writing, Critical Thinking, on the topic by clicking on the order page.
