DNA is the hereditary material of a cell, and it is now well established that purified DNA (genetic material) can be taken up by bacteria and the receiving cells are able to incorporate it into their chromosomes and express the genes so acquired.  Experiments by L.Ledoux and R. Huart, biochemists at the Center of Study of Nuclear Energy in Mol, Belgium and M. Jacobs, a plant geneticist at the University of Brussels, have shown that thiamine deficiency in the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana can be corrected by bacterial DNA.

Some strains of this plant were unable to synthesize thiamine and were not able to grow and reproduce without supplements.  The plants then were treated with bacterial DNA and they grew and reproduced without the thiamine supplements. Furthermore they were able to produce progeny that were not deficient in thiamine.  It seems, therefore, that the bacterial DNA provided the plants with the necessary thiamine gene, and further that this genetic correction was inheritable by the next generation.  Further experimentation in this area may prove very valuable in food plant development.