A Bioluminescent Agrobacterium tumefaciens for Imaging Bacterial Metabolic Activity in Planta

Bioluminescence enables the monitoring of spatiotemporal dynamics and activity of bacterial populations in planta. We here describe a procedure to use AgroLux, a bioluminescent Agrobacterium tumefaciens, as a tool to study bacterial responses upon agroinfiltration. The first method details how to transform bioluminescent AgroLux to carry binary plasmids of interests. Then, a simple agroinfiltration assay for in planta imaging of bioluminescence signals is presented. AgroLux assays will increase our understanding of plant-Agrobacterium interactions and plant immunity and improve molecular farming.