Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

My Science Fair project is about the effectiveness of various natural (Vitamin C) and pharmaceutical antibiotics in treating the Agrobacterium tumefaciens bacteria . I am treating tomato plants with the Agrobacterium tumefaciens bacteria. I will document and observe the growth of tumors on the plants stems. It has been very difficult for me to purchase the actual bacteria without the required USDA live pest permit for the bacteria. If anyone has any ideas, comments or suggestions- I would appreciate it.

Hello!

This sounds like a really interesting project! I'm a microbiologist and I work primarily with bacteria that cause human disease, so learning more about plants sounds like a lot of fun!

Getting to your question, you are looking to purchase cultures of the A. tumefacines for your project. Carolina biologics is a great website for students to purchase all different kinds of things for their science projects. Here is the link to their homepage http://www.carolina.com/. I did a search on their site for the bacteria you are looking for and came up with this http://www.carolina.com/bacteria/acetob ... mefaciens+.

I hope this helps! That is great you are also thinking about and researching the types of organisms you can grow I just wanted to ask if you have read through some of the science buddies info on proper handling and culturing of microorganisms. They can be found here: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ques.shtml

Keep us posted and let us know if you have more questions.

Nikki

Hi, Nikki!
Thanks for the reply and feedback!
I am fascinated by the topic but unfortunately can't seem to go around the permit requirement to order the bacteria within the US. I spoke with customer service at the supplier Carolina Biological and they could not offer any suggestions.
Do you know if I can buy the plants already inoculated with the bacteria to circumvent the USDA live pest requirement.

Thanks again for your help!

I will need to do a little more digging around to see if I can find you an answer. Maybe one of the other experts can also chime in. Also just for clarification, are you located in the US and can't get the bacteria here or are you trying to ship the bacteria from the US to another country? I think knowing that might help.

There is another website atcc.org that sells bacterial strains. Typically any strains listed as biosafety level 1 are available for purchase for school science experiments. I found Agrobacterium tumefaciens on their site, unfortunately it is very expensive around $200 per strain.

Is this the project you are planning on working on? https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ml#summary I was reading through the materials section https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... #materialsand for this particular experiment, it recommends:

plant infected with crown gall as a source of A. tumefaciens bacteria:
a county agricultural extension agent may be able to help with identifying crown gall infection;
you can also check with experts at local nurseries.

. Perhaps this might be a good route for you to follow?

I'll try to look around more, but hopefully this will be helpful! Please keep us posted!
Nikki

Hello,

I am in the United States. However Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a Plant Pathogen and is considered restricted, it can only be obtained by completing a USDA PPQ Form 526 also known as an Application and Permit to Move Live Plant Pests or Noxious Weeds within the US.
The project you pulled up is exactly the one I am planning on doing.
Thanks again.