 Van Montagu and his colleagues were credited with the discovery of the Ti plasmid.They described the gene transfer mechanism between "Agrobacterium" and plants, which resulted in the development of methods to alter "Agrobacterium" into an efficient delivery system for gene engineering and to create transgenic plants.They developed plant molecular genetics, in particular molecular mechanisms for cell proliferation and differentiation and response to abiotic stresses (high light, ozone, cold, salt and drought) and constructed transgenic crops (tobacco, rape seed, corn) resistant to insect pest and tolerant to novel herbicides.