Agrobacterium tumefaciens
A bacterial plant pathogen, commonly found in soil, that contains a plasmid used to introduce desired sections of DNA into plants.
Description: A common soil bacterium that causes crown gall disease by transferring some of its DNA to the plant host. Scientists alter Agrobacterium so that it no longer causes the disease but is still able to transfer DNA. They then use this altered Agrobacterium to ferry desirable genes into plants.Source: Specialized encyclopedia and dictionaries
A soil bacterium that causes a cancer-like plant disease (crown gall) in dicotyledenous plants (all agricultural crops except cereals). It contains the Ti plasmid. The tumor induction ability of the bacterium spreads to neighboring cells via the plasmid.