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PMID: 8188582 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

A LuxR-LuxI type regulatory system activates Agrobacterium Ti plasmid conjugal transfer in the presence of a plant tumor metabolite.

Journal of bacteriology ·Vol. 176 ·No. 10 ·1994-05-00 ·Pages 2796-806

Fuqua WC, Winans SC

Abstract

Conjugal transfer of Agrobacterium octopine-type Ti plasmids is activated by octopine, a metabolite released from plant tumors. Octopine causes conjugal donors to secrete a pheromone, Agrobacterium autoinducer (AAI), and exogenous AAI further stimulates conjugation. The putative AAI synthase and an AAI-responsive transcriptional regulator were found to be encoded by the Ti plasmid traI and traR genes, respectively, and the expression of traR was induced by octopine. The octopine-type traR gene product is highly homologous to the TraR protein recently characterized from a nopaline-type Ti plasmid. TraR and TraI are homologous to the LuxR and LuxI regulatory proteins of Vibrio fischeri, and AAI is similar in structure to the diffusable V. fischeri autoinducer, the inducing ligand of LuxR. TraR activated target genes in the presence of AAI and also activated traR and traI themselves, creating two positive-feedback loops. TraR-AAI-mediated activation in wild-type Agrobacterium strains was dramatically enhanced by culturing on solid media, suggesting a possible role in cell density sensing.

Related Genes
occR traI traR
MeSH Terms
Agrobacterium tumefaciens/genetics Amino Acid Sequence Bacterial Proteins/genetics Conjugation, Genetic/genetics DNA Helicases/genetics DNA-Binding Proteins Escherichia coli Proteins Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial Genes, Bacterial/genetics Genes, Regulator/genetics Models, Genetic Molecular Sequence Data Mutagenesis Plasmids/genetics Sequence Analysis, DNA Sequence Homology, Amino Acid Transcription Factors/genetics
Chemicals
Bacterial Proteins DNA-Binding Proteins Escherichia coli Proteins TraR protein, Agrobacterium tumefaciens Transcription Factors OccR protein, Bacteria TraI protein, E coli DNA Helicases
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Fuqua W C
Section of Microbiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853.
Winans S C
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Article Info
Journal
Journal of bacteriology
Abbr.
J Bacteriol
ISSN
0021-9193
DOI
10.1128/jb.176.10.2796-2806.1994
Published
1994-05-00
Pages
2796-806
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
2985120R
PMCID
PMC205432
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM15128 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM2893 · United States
Databases
GENBANK
L08596, L17024
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1128/jb.176.10.2796-2806.1994 PMC Full Text View journal details
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