Nigerian Scientist Develops Improved Systems To Enhance Plant Transformation Efficiency
By Tosin Clegg
Motivated by persistent challenges in crop transformation efficiency, plant molecular biologist Dr. Ephraim Aliu has developed new tools to improve Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation—a widely used method in genetic engineering and crop improvement. Agrobacterium, a soil bacterium, has long been valued in plant biotechnology for its natural ability to transfer DNA into plant cells. This trait, originally evolved to cause disease, has been harnessed by scientists to introduce beneficial genes into crops. Building on this foundational technique, Dr. Aliu’s innovations promise to make the transformation process safer and more efficient, thereby advancing global efforts in sustainable agriculture.
Dr. Aliu earned his Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology from Iowa State University, where he specialized in Agrobacterium genetics and genome editing. His scientific journey began in Nigeria, where he graduated with First Class Honors in Plant Biology and Biotechnology from the University of Benin. His early work focused on environmental remediation using plants, foreshadowing a career-long commitment to solving practical problems through biology.
In a recent article published in Frontiers in Plant Science, Dr. Aliu reported a dual strategy to overcome some bottlenecks in Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Despite its status as a gold-standard technique, Agrobacterium-mediated transformation is often hampered by bacterial overgrowth and instability in genetic constructs. These issues can derail breeding programs and delay crop development. To address them, Dr. Aliu, in collaboration with other scientists, engineered a system that combines thymidine auxotrophic and recA-deficient Agrobacterium strains with a newly designed ternary helper plasmid.
The auxotrophic strains—modified versions of widely used transformation strains like EHA101, EHA105, and LBA4404—cannot survive without an external supply of thymidine. This allows researchers to eliminate the bacteria from plant tissue cultures post-transformation without relying on toxic antibiotics, which are both costly and environmentally harmful. The result is a safer, more efficient transformation process that protects delicate plant cells. “By creating strains that are dependent on specific nutrients, we can also minimize their survival outside laboratory settings, thus addressing important biosafety concerns” Dr. Aliu added.
The second component of the system, a ternary helper plasmid named pKL2299A, carries additional virulence genes that enhance DNA delivery into plant cells. “Our improved Agrobacterium system, which includes auxotrophic disarmed recA-deficient strains and an engineered ternary helper plasmid, consistently enhanced transformation efficiency,” Dr. Aliu explained. In maize transformation trials, this system improved transformation rates from 25.6% to 33.3%, a significant jump for a process often measured in small percentage gains.
Dr. Aliu’s innovations build on years of specialized work in Agrobacterium genetics. As a researcher in the Wang Lab at Iowa State, he developed improved genome editing tools and synthetic vectors, engineered stable bacterial strains, and designed promoter assays to assess virulence. His earlier work, published in Plant Biotechnology, introduced a CRISPR RNA-guided integrase system for Agrobacterium—a more efficient alternative to existing methods. This system enabled targeted DNA insertion in supervirulent strains like AGL1, which are highly desirable for plant transformation but historically difficult to engineer due to their recA-deficient background.
His doctoral thesis “Towards Understanding Agrobacterium Genome Architecture” also marked the first successful use of the INTEGRATE system to modify the Agrobacterium chromosome configuration. This breakthrough deepens understanding of how genome structure influences Agrobacterium behaviour and plant transformation efficiency.
Beyond the lab, Dr. Aliu has actively shared his expertise through hands-on CRISPR and plant transformation workshops. The relevance of his work extends far beyond academic circles. Crop scientists in academia and industry frequently face delays and failures due to low transformation efficiency. By improving both the efficiency and safety of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, Dr. Aliu’s methods accelerate the development of improved crop varieties.
“Plant transformation is the backbone of modern crop improvement,” he emphasized. “If we can make this process more reliable, safer, and adaptable across plant species, we open new doors for sustainable agriculture.”
Engineered Agrobacterium strains collaboratively developed by Dr. Aliu are now being distributed across the academic community and licensed to commercial vendors. A protocol guiding the successful use of the INTEGRATE system in Agrobacterium has also been made publicly available via Dr. Aliu’s doctoral dissertation, demonstrating the seamless integration of next-generation genome editing technologies with classical transformation methods.
Dr. Aliu has already made an impact on plant biotechnology. His doctoral work was recently recognized with a research excellence award at Iowa State University. He also received the Genome Editing Frontiers Scholars Award from the industrial company Corteva Agriscience to share his insights on Innovation in Genome Editing: Algorithms to On-Farm Solutions. As such, his research contribution is expected to continue to influence plant genetic transformation in both academic and industrial labs.
