Nucleotide sequence of the tzs gene from Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain A4

The operon for cytokinin biosynthesis of Erwinia herbicola pv. gypsophilae contains two promoters and is plant induced

The operon for cytokinin biosynthesis in the gall-forming bacterium Erwinia herbicola pv. gypsophilae (Ehg) has been previously shown to reside on an indigenous plasmid (pPATH(Ehg)) that is mandatory for pathogenicity. This operon consists of two genes: the first open reading frame (pre-etz) is of unknown function, whereas the second one (etz) encodes for isopentenyl transferase. Northern hybridization performed with the wild-type strain Ehg824-1 grown in Luria-Bertani broth demonstrated two transcripts of which an etz-specific transcript (1.0 kb) was predominant. Fusion of upstream DNA fragments of both pre-etz and etz to the ice nucleation reporter gene inaZ in pVSP61 showed high ice nucleation activity in both cultures, confirming the presence of two independent promoters. An increase of 1-1.5 orders in transcriptional activity of these promoters was observed following inoculation of gypsophila cuttings. Mutants of Ehg824-1 were generated by insertion of inaZ into pre-etz and etz using the transposon reporter Tn3-Spice. An increase of about two orders in transcriptional activity was recorded with both mutants following inoculation of gypsophila or bean cuttings. A similar induction was also observed when the bacteria were applied to the leaf surface of these plants. Unlike other virulence genes present on the pPATH(Ehg), neither pre-etz nor etz was regulated by the adjacent hrp gene cluster.

The right end of the vir region of an octopine-type Ti plasmid contains four new members of the vir regulon that are not essential for pathogenesis

We sequenced the virD-virE, virE-virF, and virF-T-DNA intergenic regions of an octopine Ti plasmid. Four newly described genes were induced by the vir gene inducer acetosyringone, two of which are conserved in the nopaline-type Ti plasmid pTiC58. One gene resembles a family of phosphatase genes. Each of these genes is dispensable for tumorigenesis.

Escherichia coli dimethylallyl diphosphate:tRNA dimethylallyltransferase: a binding mechanism for recombinant enzyme

Escherichia coli dimethylallyl diphosphate:tRNA dimethylallyltransferase (DMAPP-tRNA transferase) catalyzes the first step in the biosynthesis of the hypermodified A37 residue in tRNAs that read codons beginning with uridine. The enzyme, encoded by the miaA gene, was overproduced and purified to apparent homogeneity in three steps by ion-exchange (DE52 and Mono-Q) and size exclusion chromatography. Affinity-tagged DMAPP-tRNA transferase containing a C-terminal tripeptide alpha-tubulin epitope also was overproduced and purified to apparent homogeneity in two steps by ion-exchange and immunoaffinity chromatography. Addition of the C-terminal tripeptide alpha-tubulin epitope to DMAPP-tRNA transferase did not affect the activity of the enzyme. Undermodified tRNA(Phe) used as substrate in the DMAPP-tRNA transferase-catalyzed reaction was isolated and purified from an overexpressing clone in a miaA deficient strain of E. coli. Active recombinant E. coli DMAPP-tRNA transferase is monomeric. The enzyme transferred the dimethylallyl moiety of DMAPP to A37, located adjacent to the anticodon in undermodified tRNA(Phe). The enzyme required Mg2+ for activity and exhibited a broad pH optimum. Michaelis constants for tRNA(Phe) and DMAPP are 96 +/- 11 nM and 3.2 +/- 0.5 microM, respectively, and Vmax = 0.83 +/- 0.02 micromol min-1 mg-1. DMAPP-tRNA transferase bound tRNA(Phe) with a dissociation constant of 5.2 +/- 1.2 nM. In contrast, DMAPP did not bind to the enzyme in the absence of tRNA. However, DMAPP was bound with a dissociation constant of 3.4 +/- 0.6 microM in the presence of a minihelix analogue of the anticodon stem-loop of tRNA(Phe) where the base corresponding to A37 was replaced by inosine. These results suggest an ordered sequential mechanism for substrate binding.

The genes involved in cytokinin biosynthesis in Erwinia herbicola pv. gypsophilae: characterization and role in gall formation

A locus conferring cytokinin production was previously isolated from the gall-forming bacterium Erwinia herbicola pv. gypsophilae. This locus resided in a cluster with the genes specifying indole-3-acetic acid production on the pathogenicity-associated plasmid pPATH (A. Lichter, S. Manulis, O. Sagee, Y. Gafni, J. Gray, R. Meilen, R. O. Morris, and I. Barash, Mol. Plant Microbe Interact., 8:114-121, 1995). Sequence analysis of this locus indicated the presence of a cytokinin biosynthesis gene (etz) homologous to other described cytokinin biosynthesis genes. A unique open reading frame (pre-etz) encoding 169 amino acids preceded etz and together with etz formed a region with a distinctive low G+C content. Northern (RNA) analysis indicated the presence of an etz-specific transcript of 1 kb and a common transcript for pre-etz and etz of 1.4 kb. The level of the 1-kb transcript was high in the late logarithmic phase and very low in the stationary phase. In contrast, the level of the 1.4-kb transcript was lower than that of the 1-kb transcript in the late logarithmic phase and predominant in the stationary phase. A marker exchange mutant of etz which did not produce cytokinins exhibited a reduction in gall size on Gypsophila cuttings and almost abolished disease symptoms in a whole-plant assay. Complementation of this marker exchange mutant with the intact etz gene on a multicopy plasmid resulted in overproduction of cytokinins and larger plant galls from which small shoots emerged. Insertional mutation in pre-etz resulted in a sharp decrease in both the level of the etz-specific transcript and cytokinin production. A frameshift mutation in pre-etz caused a similar reduction in the cytokinin level. A marker exchange mutation in pre-etz caused a reduction of symptoms but to lower degree than the etz mutation. In the former mutant, cytokinin production and pathogenicity could not be restored by complementation. Furthermore, attempts to complement the etz marker exchange mutant with a plasmid containing an intact etz gene and a frameshift mutation in the pre-etz gene were unsuccessful. These results suggest that the mutations in pre-etz were trans dominant.

The genes involved in cytokinin biosynthesis in Erwinia herbicola pv. gypsophilae: characterization and role in gall formation

A locus conferring cytokinin production was previously isolated from the gall-forming bacterium Erwinia herbicola pv. gypsophilae. This locus resided in a cluster with the genes specifying indole-3-acetic acid production on the pathogenicity-associated plasmid pPATH (A. Lichter, S. Manulis, O. Sagee, Y. Gafni, J. Gray, R. Meilen, R. O. Morris, and I. Barash, Mol. Plant Microbe Interact., 8:114-121, 1995). Sequence analysis of this locus indicated the presence of a cytokinin biosynthesis gene (etz) homologous to other described cytokinin biosynthesis genes. A unique open reading frame (pre-etz) encoding 169 amino acids preceded etz and together with etz formed a region with a distinctive low G+C content. Northern (RNA) analysis indicated the presence of an etz-specific transcript of 1 kb and a common transcript for pre-etz and etz of 1.4 kb. The level of the 1-kb transcript was high in the late logarithmic phase and very low in the stationary phase. In contrast, the level of the 1.4-kb transcript was lower than that of the 1-kb transcript in the late logarithmic phase and predominant in the stationary phase. A marker exchange mutant of etz which did not produce cytokinins exhibited a reduction in gall size on Gypsophila cuttings and almost abolished disease symptoms in a whole-plant assay. Complementation of this marker exchange mutant with the intact etz gene on a multicopy plasmid resulted in overproduction of cytokinins and larger plant galls from which small shoots emerged. Insertional mutation in pre-etz resulted in a sharp decrease in both the level of the etz-specific transcript and cytokinin production. A frameshift mutation in pre-etz caused a similar reduction in the cytokinin level. A marker exchange mutation in pre-etz caused a reduction of symptoms but to lower degree than the etz mutation. In the former mutant, cytokinin production and pathogenicity could not be restored by complementation. Furthermore, attempts to complement the etz marker exchange mutant with a plasmid containing an intact etz gene and a frameshift mutation in the pre-etz gene were unsuccessful. These results suggest that the mutations in pre-etz were trans dominant.

Two-way chemical signaling in Agrobacterium-plant interactions

The discovery in 1977 that Agrobacterium species can transfer a discrete segment of oncogenic DNA (T-DNA) to the genome of host plant cells has stimulated an intense interest in the molecular biology underlying these plant-microbe associations. This attention in turn has resulted in a series of insights about the biology of these organisms that continue to accumulate at an ever-increasing rate. This excitement was due in part to the notion that this unprecedented interkingdom DNA transfer could be exploited to create transgenic plants containing foreign genes of scientific or commercial importance. In the course of these discoveries, Agrobacterium became one of the best available models for studying the molecular interactions between bacteria and higher organisms. One extensively studied aspect of this association concerns the exchange of chemical signals between Agrobacterium spp. and host plants. Agrobacterium spp. can recognize no fewer than five classes of low-molecular-weight compounds released from plants, and other classes probably await discovery. The most widely studied of these are phenolic compounds, which stimulate the transcription of the genes needed for infection. Other compounds include specific monosaccharides and acidic environments which potentiate vir gene induction, acidic polysaccharides which induce one or more chromosomal genes, and a family of compounds called opines which are released from tumorous plant cells to the bacteria as nutrient sources. Agrobacterium spp. in return release a variety of chemical compounds to plants. The best understood is the transferred DNA itself, which contains genes that in various ways upset the balance of phytohormones, ultimately causing neoplastic cell proliferation. In addition to transferring DNA, some Agrobacterium strains directly secrete phytohormones. Finally, at least some strains release a pectinase, which degrades a component of plant cell walls.