Production of Foreign Proteins in Tobacco Cell Suspension Culture

The transfer of foreign genes to plant cells is most often performed using the biological vector Agrobacterium tumefaciens (1 ). This Agrobacterium -mediated introduction of cloned genes into plants has been widely used for promoter characterization using reporter genes, analysis of gene function, and protein targeting. Agrobacterium -mediated gene transfer has also been a method of choice for introducing genes that increase crop resistance to insects or viruses, or genes that encode foreign proteins of industrial or bio-pharmaceutical interest.