Dept of Plant Systems Biology, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000, Gent, Belgium.
Agrobacterium tumefaciens is the preferred method for transformation of a wide range of plant species. Commonly, the genes to be transferred are cloned between the left and right T-DNA borders of so-called binary T-DNA vectors that can replicate both in E. coli and Agrobacterium. Because these vectors are generally large, cloning can be time-consuming and laborious. Recently, the GATEWAY conversion technology has provided a fast and reliable alternative to the cloning of sequences into large acceptor plasmids.