Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Agrobacterium tumefaciens (updated scientific name Rhizobium radiobacter, synonym Agrobacterium radiobacter) is the causal agent of crown gall disease (the formation of tumours) in over 140 species of eudicots. It is a rod-shaped, Gram-negative soil bacterium. Symptoms are caused by the insertion of a small segment of DNA (known as the T-DNA, for 'transfer DNA'), from a plasmid, into the plant cell, which is incorporated at a semi-random location into the plant genome.