Why do plants need agrobacterial genes?

Abstract

Agrobacterium mediated transformation in nature is the cause of the development of diseases: crown galls and hairy roots. These neoplasms are transgenic tissues on a non-transgenic plant. However, in nature, full-fledged GMOs arise, containing agrobacterial transgenes in every cell and transmitting them in a series of sexual generations. These plants are called naturally transgenic plants or natural GMOs. Over the past 3 years, the list of natural GMO species has been significantly expanded. Due to this, it became possible to make certain generalizations and more substantively discuss the possible evolutionary role of this phenomenon. The presented mini-review is devoted to the generalization of data on the possible functions of genes of agrobacterial origin in plant genomes.