Agrobacterium tumefaciens as a molecular tool for the study of fungal pathogens.

Abstract

This paper discusses the genetic mechanisms of Agrobacterium tumefaciens [Rhizobium radiobacter]-mediated transformation (AMT); the AMT of fungi, describing the genetic tools and factors (Agrobacterium host strain, starting material, co-cultivation condition) influencing fungal AMT; and the application of AMT in fungal mutagenesis (targeted and insertional). AMT has proved to be an important tool for the transformation of a diverse number of yeasts and fungi. The lack of a need for special equipment, the simplicity of transformation protocols and the variety of starting materials that can be transformed make AMT a preferable alternative to other more laborious and time-consuming transformation protocols. The success of a large-scale functional genomics study using AMT in Magnaporthe oryzae indicates that this method may be particularly useful as a method for high-throughput functionality studies for many of the more than 30 species of fungi that have been sequenced. AMT can be used to mediate targeted-gene disruption in several medically and agriculturally important species that are recalcitrant to other transformation techniques.