Crown Gall: Advances in Understanding Interkingdom Gene Transfer

This collection of studies is an overview of research in the influential field of crown gall research. The studies were presented in honor of Eugene W. Nester and Milton P. Gordon at the Northwest Crown Gall Conference.

Nester and Gordon were responsible for a landmark discovery about crown gall disease that generated an enormous amount of interest in crown gall research. Along with Mary-Dell Chilton, they proved that Agrobacterium tumefaciens causes crown gall disease through stable transfer of specific bacterial genes to plant cells. The research spurred by this discovery was so fruitful that it played a significant role in the creation of the plant molecular biology field and the plant biotechnology industry.

Highlights of this volume include a report on the first significant progress on identification of key host factors for crown gall as well as research and literature reviews on ecology, gene regulation, and DNA transfer.