 Opine

Opines are low molecular weight compounds found in plant crown gall tumors or hairy root tumors produced by pathogenic bacteria of the genus "Agrobacterium" and "Rhizobium".Opine biosynthesis is catalyzed by specific enzymes encoded by genes contained in a small segment of DNA (known as the T-DNA, for 'transfer DNA'), which is part of the Ti plasmid (in "Agrobacterium") or Ri plasmid (in "Rhizobium"), inserted by the bacterium into the plant genome.