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Abstract
We have introduced the hairy root plasmid (pRi) from Agrobacterium rhizogenes into Rhizobium meliloti. Transfer was accomplished by the use of a Tn5 mutant of the plasmid which had improved transfer abilities. The R. meliloti (pRi) transconjugants did not induce root proliferation in any of the plant species tested, including alfalfa (Medicago sativa). The transconjugants nodulated alfalfa and the nodules appeared to be identical, morphologically and cytologically, to those produced by the parent R. meliloti strain. In growth chamber tests, the R. meliloti (pRi) transconjugants induced significantly more nodules per plant on alfalfa than either the R. meliloti parent or the wild-type strain of R. meliloti. The hairy root plasmid was stably maintained in R. meliloti after being passed serially through two plantings of alfalfa.
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