Figure 9.

Virulence and conjugation assays. A and B, carrot disc (A) and K. daigremontiana (B) assays showing the formation of tumors after infection with A. tumefaciens C58, virB6 deletion (CB1006), and CB1006 transformed with empty vector pTrc200- or pTrc200-expressing VirB6a or its variants VirB6aL18A, VirB6aF20A, VirB6aΔ(18–23), and VirB6aΔ(30–35). Representative results of three repetitions are shown. C, conjugation assays between the pKM101-carrying donor strain FM433 and the plasmid-free recipient WL400 were conducted for 1 h or 2 h. Donor cells were pKM101 WT and a traD insertion mutant transformed with pTrc200 (empty vector) or complemented with pTrc200-expressing TraD or its variants TraDV21A, TraDI17A, TraDΔ(15–20), and TraD Δ(27–32). Conjugation assays showing the effects of changes on the capacity of TraD and its variants to complement (CFU, cfu of the recipient strain). Values and standard deviations were calculated from three independent experiments.