Rice University researchers reported tapping the immense potential of "hairy roots" as natural factories. Hairy roots are a type of tumor that forms on plants infected by the soil bacterium Agrobacterium rhizogenes.

By inserting a specific gene into the bacterium, researchers found they can integrate that gene into the host plant's DNA and, eventually, the host develops a system of fuzzy-looking roots near the site of the infection. Such hairy roots are transgenic, meaning they contain the genes of both the host plant and the bacterium.

"The species of periwinkle that we're studying produces a wide variety of alkaloids -- including the anti-cancer drugs vincristine and vinblastine," said Professor Ka-Yiu San. "Hairy roots have a number of advantages over cell cultures as a production platform for these compounds."

Scientists believe they can create hairy roots that produce the product of inserted genes with a stability and productivity not possible with most other plant cell cultures.

The study by San and graduate student Christie Peebles appears in the November-December issue of the journal Biotechnology Progress.