Disarming and sequencing of Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain K599 (NCPPB2659) plasmid pRi2659

Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain K599 (pRi2659), a causative agent of hairy root disease, effectively induces hairy root formation in a variety of plant species, including numerous soybean (Glycine max) cultivars. Because Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of soybean remains challenging and labor intensive, K599 appeared a suitable progenitor for new agrobacteria strains for plant transformation. In this paper, we report the disarming and sequencing of pRi2659 and the usefulness of the resulting disarmed strain in plant transformation studies of Arabidopsis thaliana, maize (Zea mays), tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), and soybean (G. max).