Biotechnology: Principles and Processes — BIOLOGY STD 12 Science — Question

Vectors for cloning genes in plants and animals In plants, Agrobacterium tumefaciens (a pathogen of several dicot plants) is able to deliver a piece of DNA known as T-DNA' (transfer-DNA) to transform normal plant cells into tumour cells to produce chemicals required by pathogen. This is done as the tumour inducing (Ti) plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens has been modified as a cloning vector which is no longer pathogenic to plant but is still able to deliver genes of interest. Similarly, retrovirus, adenovirus, papilloma virus are also used as a cloning vectors in animals because of their ability to transform normal cells into cancerous cells.