Agrobacterium

noun

Ag·​ro·​bac·​te·​ri·​um

¦a-grō-ˌbak-ˈtir-ē-əm

: a genus of small usually gram-negative and motile bacterial rods (family Rhizobiaceae) including soil forms that vigorously reduce nitrates and several pathogens of cultivated plants that typically cause galls on stems compare crown gall

Word History

Etymology

New Latin, from agro- + bacterium

First Known Use

1942, in the meaning defined above

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