Whichever reaches first, it fertilizes the ovule. The fastest growing pollen tube usually carries the best genes and results in a more vigorous offspring. See also Pollination Adaptations . Hermaphroditism and ability to reproduce both sexually and asexually Double fertilization Polyploidy Alternation of generations Mitosis in haploid state Agricultural biotechnology To create plants with altered characters, gene transfer has been used extensively in recent years. In principle, it is the same procedure as used in other organisms.
Plants are especially suitable for genetic modification because most plant cells are totipotent.
The most commonly used carrier vector in plant genetic modification is the Ti plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Plants can also be used as bioreactors to produce desired recombinant proteins. See also Gene Therapy .