Abstract
Agrobacterium tumefaciens incites cancerous growths in dicotyledonous plants called crown gall tumours. Large plasmids in oncogenic Agrobacterium strains1 carry genetic information which is essential for tumour induction2,3. We recently reported that axenic crown gall tumour tissue contains multiple copies of a small part of the oncogenic (Ti) plasmid of the inciting bacterial strain4. The mechanism of induction of crown gall tumours thus seems to resemble that of some virally induced animal tumours: the eukaryotic cell is transformed by addition of new genetic information which is stably maintained through subsequent cell divisions5–7. The means by which foreign DNA brings about the tumorous growth pattern of crown gall cells is unknown. The first step in elucidating its mode of action is reported here: we have detected RNA transcripts of the foreign genetic information in the tumour cell.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Zaenen, I., Van Larebeke, N., Teuchy, H., van Montagu, M. & Schell, J. J. molec. Biol 86, 109–127 (1974).
Van Larebeke, N. et al. Nature 252, 169–170 (1974).
Watson, B.,, Currier, T. C., Gordon, M. P., Chilton, M. D. & Nester, E. W. J. Bact. 123, 255–264 (1975).
Chilton, M. D. et al. Cell 11, 263–271 (1977).
Baltimore, D. Science 192, 632–636 (1976).
Dulbecco, R. Science 192, 437–440 (1976).
Temin, H. M. Science 192, 1075–1080 (1976).
Southern, E. M. J. molec. Biol 98, 503–517 (1975).
Ketner, G. & Kelley, J. T. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 73, 1102–1106 (1976).
Chilton, M. D. et al. Microbiology (in the press).
Schell, J. et al. Molecular Biology of Plants (ed. Rubinstein, I.) (Academic, New York, in the press).
Eden, F. C. thesis, Univ. Washington (1974).
Denhardt, D. T. Biochem. biophys. Res. Commun. 23, 641–646 (1966).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
DRUMMOND, M., GORDON, M., NESTER, E. et al. Foreign DNA of bacterial plasmid origin is transcribed in crown gall tumours. Nature 269, 535–536 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/269535a0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/269535a0
This article is cited by
-
GM crops –a mini-review
Australasian Plant Pathology (2011)
-
A 20 nucleotide upstream element is essential for the nopaline synthase (nos) promoter activity
Plant Molecular Biology (1994)
-
Three distinct regulatory elements comprise the upstream promoter region of the nopaline synthase gene
Molecular and General Genetics MGG (1989)
-
Selective and accurate initiation of transcription at the T-DNA promoter in a soluble chromatin extract from wheat germ
Molecular and General Genetics MGG (1987)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
