Genetic Transformation of Plants: Introduction and Recent Advances

Gram-negative soil bacteria belonging to the Genus Agrobacterium are used for genetic transformation of a variety of plants including medicinal plants. Typically, A. tumefaciens and A. rhizogenes are used in the induction of crown gall and hairy roots respectively. These transformed cultures can be used for generating better plants with increased adoption to saline soils, drought, pests and pesticides. These cultures can also be used for exploiting secondary metabolism in plants and to manipulate the yield of phytoconstitutents. Genetic transformation of the economic and medicinal plants using Agrobacterium is promising tool in the plant biotechnology. The present article attempts to summarise the important advancements in the use of Agrobacterium for genetic manipulation.