Transfection and transformation of Agrobacterium tumefaciens

The freeze thaw transfection procedure of Dityatkin et al. (1972) was adapted for the transfection and transformation of A. tumefaciens. Transfection of the strains B6S3 and B6-6 with DNA of the temperate phage PS8cc186 yielded a maximum frequency of 2 10-7 transfectants per total recipient population. In transformation of the strain GV3100 with the P type plasmid RP4 a maximum frequency of 3.5 10-7 transformants per total recipient population was obtained. Agrobacterium Ti-plasmids were introduced in the strain GV3100 with a maximal efficiency of 4.5 10-8. These experiments provide further evidence that the Ti-plasmid is responsible for the oncogenic properties of A tumefaciens and for its capacity to induce “opine” synthesis in Crown-gall plant cells