agrobacterium mediated transformation

[splash.of.colour]

Hi, for a SAC coming up on genetically modified foods we have to show our understanding of genetic engineering techniques and tools like PCR, restriction enzymes etc

All of the foods i have looked at are modified through agrobacterium mediated transformation, does this use PCR/restriction enzymes etc in any way? im not sure how to incorporate it

if anyone has any good links on the process of agrobacterium mediated transformation that would be great too, ive been looking for ages but can't really understand anything lol

any help would be appreciated

[Russ]

Agrobacterium is a bacterium that specifically targets plants to kill them as part of its normal life cycle/evolutionary process, which it does by inserting its genes into the plant in order to induce mutations and tumours. In order to allow genetic engineering in this way, scientists insert specific genes onto the bacterium and then rely on it transferring those genes into the plant.

In order to get them into the bacteria, they typically use plasmids that have undergone restriction enzyme mediation recombination to remove bits we don't want (ie the cancer genes) and insert bits we do want (ie the GM stuff). Then we get all the bacteria that have sucessfully received a plasmid and use them to transfer it into plants