Nematodes as vectors to introduce Agrobacterium into plant roots

A fast plant promoter test was developed by means of a nematode to transfer Agrobacterium tumefaciens into plant roots. Two-week-old Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. plants were transferred to infection medium. Meloidogyne incognita or Heterodera schachtii juveniles were mixed with the Agrobacterium strain that harboured the binary vector, and this mixture was used for plant inoculation. During migration of the nematode and establishment of the feeding site inside the roots, the T-DNA was delivered into the root cells. A few days later, the infected plants could be analysed for expression of the T-DNA reporter gene in and around the nematode feeding sites (NFS), without the need to go first through the whole transformation and regeneration procedure. Depending on the construct, expression of the β-glucuronidase gene in the NFS or along the migration path of the nematode could be seen in the roots of Arabidopsis plants. Furthermore, stably transformed plants could be regenerated from the infected roots.