Re: Is cancer as devastating to plant as in human?

Hello!

You are right, the tumor that you see in plants is called a gal. This 
growth does have cancer like properties in that it there is no growth 
inhibition but, unlike animal cells it is not caused by any gene function 
on the plants behalf. 

The abnormal growth is cause by a bacteria called Agrobacterium 
tumefaciens. This bacteria causes a disease called Crown Gal Diesease. This 
bacteria is also used in the biotechnology industry to introduce foreign 
genes into a plant creating transgenic organisms. The following site may be 
helpful to you 
 http://helios.bto.ed.ac.uk/bto/microbes/crown.htm 

There are several links as well as some papers that have been cited that 
you may want to read.

Good luck,
Wendy