Agroinfiltration and agroinfection refer to methods of gene delivery in plants that produce transient expression.
In agroinfiltration, Agrobacterium tumefaciens is often used. Agrobacterium has a tumor-inducing plasmid, part of which is transferred into plant cells as transfer DNA (T-DNA). There are two methods of agroinfiltration: syringe infiltration, which involves injecting Agrobacterium through a small cut on the leaf, or vacuum infiltration, which involves submerging leaves in a medium containing Agrobacterium and then subjecting the sample to a vacuum.
While agroinfiltration involves non-viral gene delivery, agroinfection, on the other hand, entails delivering infectious viral genes to plants. This is also done through incorporation into T-DNA. RNA viruses are commonly used due to their high replication rate in plants.