Skip to main content
PMC home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1987 Apr;84(7):1881–1885. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.7.1881

Virulence genes A, G, and D mediate the double-stranded border cleavage of T-DNA from the Agrobacterium Ti plasmid

K Veluthambi 1, R K Jayaswal 1, S B Gelvin 1,*
PMCID: PMC304545  PMID: 16593820

Abstract

Agrobacterium tumefaciens transfers the T-DNA portion of its Ti plasmid to the nuclear genome of plant cells. Upon cocultivation of A. tumefaciens strain A348 with regenerating tobacco leaf protoplasts, restriction endonuclease fragments of the T-DNA were generated that are consistent with double-stranded cleavage of the T-DNA at the border sequences. The T-DNA border cleavage was also induced by acetosyringone, a compound that induces many of the virulence genes. T-DNA cleavage did not occur in Agrobacterium strains harboring Tn3-HoHo1 insertions in the virA, -D, or -G genes. Insertion mutations in virB, -C, or -E did not have any effect on the T-DNA cleavage. Complementation of the mutations in virA, -D, or -G with cosmids containing the respective wild-type genes restored the T-DNA cleavage. Since virA and -G are essential in regulating the expression of other vir genes in response to plant signal molecules, the virD gene product(s) appear to mediate double-stranded T-DNA border cleavage.

Full text

PDF
1882

Images in this article

1883Image
on p.1883
1883Image
on p.1883
1883Image
on p.1883
1883Image
on p.1883
1883Image
on p.1883
1883Image
on p.1883
1883Image
on p.1883
1884Image
on p.1884
1884Image
on p.1884
1884Image
on p.1884

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Alt-Moerbe J., Rak B., Schröder J. A 3.6-kbp segment from the vir region of Ti plasmids contains genes responsible for border-sequence-directed production of T region circles in E. coli. EMBO J. 1986 Jun;5(6):1129–1135. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04337.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bevan M. W., Chilton M. D. T-DNA of the Agrobacterium Ti and Ri plasmids. Annu Rev Genet. 1982;16:357–384. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.16.120182.002041. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bolton G. W., Nester E. W., Gordon M. P. Plant phenolic compounds induce expression of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens loci needed for virulence. Science. 1986 May 23;232(4753):983–985. doi: 10.1126/science.3085219. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Caplan A., Herrera-Estrella L., Inzé D., Van Haute E., Van Montagu M., Schell J., Zambryski P. Introduction of genetic material into plant cells. Science. 1983 Nov 18;222(4625):815–821. doi: 10.1126/science.222.4625.815. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Ditta G., Stanfield S., Corbin D., Helinski D. R. Broad host range DNA cloning system for gram-negative bacteria: construction of a gene bank of Rhizobium meliloti. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Dec;77(12):7347–7351. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.12.7347. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Douglas C. J., Staneloni R. J., Rubin R. A., Nester E. W. Identification and genetic analysis of an Agrobacterium tumefaciens chromosomal virulence region. J Bacteriol. 1985 Mar;161(3):850–860. doi: 10.1128/jb.161.3.850-860.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Gardner R. C., Knauf V. C. Transfer of Agrobacterium DNA to Plants Requires a T-DNA Border But Not the virE Locus. Science. 1986 Feb 14;231(4739):725–727. doi: 10.1126/science.231.4739.725. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Garfinkel D. J., Nester E. W. Agrobacterium tumefaciens mutants affected in crown gall tumorigenesis and octopine catabolism. J Bacteriol. 1980 Nov;144(2):732–743. doi: 10.1128/jb.144.2.732-743.1980. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Gelvin S. B., Karcher S. J., DiRita V. J. Methylation of the T-DNA in Agrobacterium tumefaciens and in several crown gall tumors. Nucleic Acids Res. 1983 Jan 11;11(1):159–174. doi: 10.1093/nar/11.1.159. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Hille J., van Kan J., Schilperoort R. trans-Acting virulence functions of the octopine Ti plasmid from Agrobacterium tumefaciens. J Bacteriol. 1984 May;158(2):754–756. doi: 10.1128/jb.158.2.754-756.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hinegardner R. T. An improved fluorometric assay for DNA. Anal Biochem. 1971 Jan;39(1):197–201. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(71)90476-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Iyer V. N., Klee H. J., Nester E. W. Units of genetic expression in the virulence region of a plant tumor-inducing plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Mol Gen Genet. 1982;188(3):418–424. doi: 10.1007/BF00330043. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Jen G. C., Chilton M. D. The right border region of pTiT37 T-DNA is intrinsically more active than the left border region in promoting T-DNA transformation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Jun;83(11):3895–3899. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.11.3895. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Knauf V. C., Nester E. W. Wide host range cloning vectors: a cosmid clone bank of an Agrobacterium Ti plasmid. Plasmid. 1982 Jul;8(1):45–54. doi: 10.1016/0147-619x(82)90040-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Peralta E. G., Hellmiss R., Ream W. Overdrive, a T-DNA transmission enhancer on the A. tumefaciens tumour-inducing plasmid. EMBO J. 1986 Jun;5(6):1137–1142. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04338.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Peralta E. G., Ream L. W. T-DNA border sequences required for crown gall tumorigenesis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Aug;82(15):5112–5116. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.15.5112. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Simpson R. B., O'Hara P. J., Kwok W., Montoya A. L., Lichtenstein C., Gordon M. P., Nester E. W. DNA from the A6S/2 crown gall tumor contains scrambled Ti-plasmid sequences near its junctions with plant DNA. Cell. 1982 Jul;29(3):1005–1014. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90464-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Stachel S. E., An G., Flores C., Nester E. W. A Tn3 lacZ transposon for the random generation of beta-galactosidase gene fusions: application to the analysis of gene expression in Agrobacterium. EMBO J. 1985 Apr;4(4):891–898. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03715.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Stachel S. E., Nester E. W. The genetic and transcriptional organization of the vir region of the A6 Ti plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. EMBO J. 1986 Jul;5(7):1445–1454. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04381.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Stachel S. E., Zambryski P. C. virA and virG control the plant-induced activation of the T-DNA transfer process of A. tumefaciens. Cell. 1986 Aug 1;46(3):325–333. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90653-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Thomashow M. F., Nutter R., Montoya A. L., Gordon M. P., Nester E. W. Integration and organization of Ti plasmid sequences in crown gall tumors. Cell. 1980 Mar;19(3):729–739. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(80)80049-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Wang K., Herrera-Estrella L., Van Montagu M., Zambryski P. Right 25 bp terminus sequence of the nopaline T-DNA is essential for and determines direction of DNA transfer from agrobacterium to the plant genome. Cell. 1984 Sep;38(2):455–462. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90500-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Yadav N. S., Vanderleyden J., Bennett D. R., Barnes W. M., Chilton M. D. Short direct repeats flank the T-DNA on a nopaline Ti plasmid. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Oct;79(20):6322–6326. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.20.6322. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Yamamoto A., Iwahashi M., Yanofsky M. F., Nester E. W., Takebe I., Machida Y. The promoter proximal region in the virD locus of Agrobacterium tumefaciens is necessary for the plant-inducible circularization of T-DNA. Mol Gen Genet. 1987 Jan;206(1):174–177. doi: 10.1007/BF00326554. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Zambryski P., Depicker A., Kruger K., Goodman H. M. Tumor induction by Agrobacterium tumefaciens: analysis of the boundaries of T-DNA. J Mol Appl Genet. 1982;1(4):361–370. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES