This would allow it to fully ripen on the vine and still be shipped long distances without it going soft.[1] Calgene scientists used the modified bacterial parasite Agrobacterium tumefaciens to transfer genetic material into Flavr Savr plant cells. The bacterium normally "infects" plants with foreign genes as a part of its life cycle. The harmful, parasitic genetic material was removed from the bacterial T-plasmid and was replaced by the favored genes.[2]