Figure 1.

Major steps of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated plant transformation process.

(1) Attachment of A. tumefaciens to the plant cells. (2) Sensing plant signals by A. tumefaciens and regulation of virulence genes in bacteria following transduction of the sensed signals. (3) Generation and transport of T-DNA and virulence proteins from the bacterial cells into plant cells. (4) Nuclear import of T-DNA and effector proteins in the plant cells. (5) T-DNA integration and expression in the plant genome.