Question

Agrobacterium tumefaciens is most widely used for gene transfer because
A. It causes crown gall tumours.
B. It has an ability to insert Ti plasmid into the nuclear genome.
C. It can grow anywhere
D. It has the ability to kill pathogenic bacteria.

Answer 1

Hint: Genetics is a branch of biology which deals with the inheritance as well as the variation of characters from parents to offspring.
Inheritance is the process by which characters are passed on from one generation to another generation.
Genes: Genes are the unit of inheritance.
Alleles: Genes which code for a pair of contrasting traits.

Complete answer:
Genetics is the study of hereditary.
Hereditary means transmission of characters from parents to offspring.
George Mendel conducted hybridization experiments on garden peas for seven years and proposed the laws of inheritance in living organisms.
Gene transfer is the unrelated genetic information in the form of DNA into cells.
It may be horizontal gene transfer or vertical gene transfer.
The transfer of genes is done horizontally when a segment of DNA is copied and inserted from one site to another of the same or of a different chromosome.
It is also referred to as transposition and genes are known as transposon.
Agrobacterium tumefaciens naturally infects the wound sites in dicots causing the crown gall disease.
It is capable of transferring T-DNA of the Tumour inducing (Ti) plasmid into the nucleus of infected cells.
It will then integrate into the host genome and is transcribed, causing the crown gall disease.
This property of tumor formation is exploited in biotechnology and hence Agrobacterium tumefaciens has become the most used method for plant transformation by gene transfer.

So, the correct option is option C. It can grow anywhere.

Note: Variation is defined as difference between cells, individual organisms, or groups of organisms of any species caused either by genetic differences or by the effect of environmental factors on the expression of the genetic potentials
There are three sources of variation:
1. Mutation
2. Recombination
3. Immigration of genes.