Conference: 24th Annual Crown Gall Conference, to be held at Cornell University, Noveember 22-23, 2003

Cornell Univ - State: Awds Made Prior May 2010, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

Funding is requested to help offset travel expenses for undergraduate and graduate students attending the 24th Annual Crown Gall Conference. This conference will take place November 22-23, 2003 at Cornell University, and will be attended by approximately 75 national and international scientists that study Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Of these, approximately half will be students working in US labs, who will be the sole beneficiaries of financial assistance from NSF. Several of these students study at undergraduate colleges, and their advisors do not have adequate funding for travel of this sort. Studies of A. tumefaciens continue to provide an ongoing intellectual feast. This organism is one of the best developed model pathogens available. It provided the first model for translocation of macromolecules from pathogen to host, a phenomenon that is now known to be quite widespread. The A. tumefaciens transfer system continues to be the best characterized member of its family. This bacterium provided the first model for the detection of host-released diffusible chemical signals, and this system continues to lead the way in host detection. This organism has also provided an excellent model for the phenomenon of cell-cell communication, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as quorum sensing. Students of A. tumefaciens will continue to provide leadership in fundamental aspects of host-microbe interactions. This conference therefore focuses on an important model patho-system. These studies also impact the scientific infrastructure in many ways. One area has to do with the creation of transgenic plants. Although A. tumefaciens is routinely used to introduce transgenes into many species of plants, there is a great deal of room for improvement, particularly in transformation of monocots, the introduction of extremely long T-DNAs, in the regeneration of plants from transformed cells, and in the removal of antibiotic resistance markers from transgenic crops. The fundamental studies presenting in this conference will surely impact upon plant molecular genetics and agriculture. A. tumefaciens also provides an excellent model for learning how to do good science. The organism is readily culturable and readily manipulated genetically. Therefore, this organism and its hosts provide many opportunities for learning how to do highly controlled, reproducible, hypothesis-based experiments. In short, students of A. tumefaciens learn how to be good scientists, and will carry these skills with them throughout their scientific careers.