Transformation of Acinetobacter sp. strain BD413 by transgenic sugar beet DNA

The ability of Acinetobacter sp. strain BD413(pFG4DnptII) to take up and integrate transgenic plant DNA based on homologous recombination was studied under optimized laboratory conditions. Restoration of nptII, resulting in kanamycin-resistant transformants, was observed with plasmid DNA, plant DNA, and homoge-nates carrying the gene nptII. Molecular analysis showed that some transformants not only restored the 317-bp deletion but also obtained additional DNA. Bacterial antibiotic resistance genes are still frequently used as markers in transgenic plants. Due to the problems caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens, the use of antibiotic resistance genes in transgenic plants is subject to debate. It is hypothe-sized that the introduction of bacterial genes into the plant genome leads to a higher probability of gene transfer from plants to bacteria due to the presence of homologous se-quences. However, until now, there has been a lack of clear experimental evidence that successful gene transfer from plants to bacteria can occur at all. Natural transformation, th