In the early 1980s, the era of plant biotechnology began with Agrobacterium tumifaciens. This bacterium naturally infects plants and forms tumors in the wild by transferring DNA between itself and the plant it is infected with.

Scientists use this natural feature to transfer genes from an A. tumifaciens bacterium modified to contain a gene of interest into plant cells.

For the first time, it was possible to insert certain genes into a plant genome, even genes that did not come from that species, or even from a plant. However, A. tumifaciens does not affect all plants, so researchers inspired by this system continued to develop DNA delivery methods that would work without it.

These include microinjection and "gene guns," in which the desired DNA is physically injected into the plant or coated with tiny particles that are literally hit into the nuclei of plant cells.

A recent review outlines eight new methods for modifying genes in plants. These are molecular biology techniques that use different enzymes or nucleic acid molecules (DNA and RNA) to make changes in a plant's genes. One way is to change the sequence of a plant's DNA.

Another is to leave the sequence alone but make other epigenetic changes in the structure of a plant's DNA. For example, scientists can add arrangements of atoms called methyl groups to some of the nucleotide building blocks of DNA.

While these epigenetic modifications do not change the sequence of DNA or genes, they do change how genes can be expressed and thus the observable traits a plant has.

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