FIG 4.

The mannityl opine catabolism region of pAoF64/95 is related to those of other Agrobacterium plasmids. (A) Alignment of the regions coding for the catabolism of the mannityl opines from two Ti plasmids, pTi15955 and pTiBo542, and from pAoF64/95. Orthologous genes and gene systems are depicted as arrows with identical fill patterns. Genes with common shading are involved in the same opine-catabolic pathways. mot, mannopine transport; agt, agropine transport; acgA, mannopine cyclase; moc, mannopine catabolism; aga, transport and catabolism of agropinic acid and mannopinic acid; moa, transport of mannopinic acid. All genes not directly involved in the catabolism and transport of the mannityl opines are in black. mrtR, a novel gene in pAoF64/95, codes for a member of the GntR family of regulators. trlR is a frame-shifted allele of traR in pTi15955 (30, 31). (B) A set of cosmids with overlapping inserts define the catabolic region of pAoF64/95. Derivatives of strain NTL4 harboring each cosmid were tested for the ability to grow on AB minimal agar containing either MOP or MOA as the sole carbon source. ++, growth as good as that of a known mannityl opine utilizer; +/−, very poor growth; −, no significant growth. The dotted lines indicate where the cosmid extends beyond the scope of the map.