Work

Monitoring and orthogonal control of agrobacteria in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Agrobacterium-mediated transient transfection of Nicotiana benthamiana remains the most popular method for rapid synthesis of heterologous proteins in plants; yet relatively little is known about agrobacterial population stability, physiological state or plasmid maintenance following infiltration into N. benthamiana leaves. Developing a better understanding of post-infiltration agrobacterium populations is important for designing new tools and strategies to exploit the agrobacterium–plant interaction using synthetic biology. In this study, we developed molecular tools and methods for monitoring and manipulating agrobacteria within leaf tissue. This capability may support the development of engineered agrobacteria for diverse applications such as reporting on plant physiology or synthesising additional metabolites while residing in the leaf, in parallel with plant metabolism.

Source: Plant Biotechnology Journal

DOI: 10.1111/pbi.70056