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J. Bacteriol., Sep 1995, 4881-4889, Vol 177, No. 17
KE Finberg, TR Muth, SP Young, JB Maken, SM Heitritter, AN Binns and LM Banta
The eleven predicted gene products of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens virB
operon are believed to form a transmembrane pore complex through which
T-DNA export occurs. The VirB10 protein is required for virulence and is a
component of an aggregate associated with the membrane fraction of A.
tumefaciens. Removal of the putative membrane-spanning domain (amino acids
22 through 55) disrupts the membrane topology of VirB10 (J. E. Ward, E. M.
Dale, E. W. Nester, and A. N. Binns, J. Bacteriol. 172:5200-5210, 1990).
Deletion of the sequences encoding amino acids 22 to 55 abolishes the
ability of plasmid-borne virB10 to complement a null mutation in the virB10
gene, suggesting that the proper topology of VirB10 in the membrane may
indeed play a crucial role in T-DNA transfer to the plant cell. Western
blot (immunoblot) analysis indicated that the observed loss of virulence
could not be attributed to a decrease in the steady-state levels of the
mutant VirB10 protein. Although the deletion of the single transmembrane
domain would be expected to perturb membrane association, VirB10 delta
22-55 was found exclusively in the membrane fraction. Urea extraction
studies suggested that this membrane localization might be the result of a
peripheral membrane association; however, the mutant protein was found in
both inner and outer membrane fractions separated by sucrose density
gradient centrifugation. Both wild-type VirB10 and wild-type VirB9 were
only partially removed from the membranes by extraction with 1% Triton
X-100, while VirB5 and VirB8 were Triton X-100 soluble.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED
AT 250 WORDS)
Copyright © 1995, American Society for Microbiology
Interactions of VirB9, -10, and -11 with the membrane fraction of Agrobacterium tumefaciens: solubility studies provide evidence for tight associations
Department of Biology, Haverford College, Pennsylvania 19041, USA.
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