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J. Bacteriol., Feb 1997, 1203-1210, Vol 179, No. 4
C Baron, M Llosa, S Zhou and PC Zambryski
During genetic transformation of plant cells by Agrobacterium tumefaciens,
11 VirB proteins and VirD4 are proposed to form a transmembrane bridge to
transfer a DNA-protein complex (T-complex) into the plant cytoplasm. In
this study, the localization of the first product of the virB operon,
VirB1, was studied in detail. While full- length VirB1 localized mostly to
the inner membrane, an immunoreactive VirB1 product was found as soluble
processed form, designated VirB1*. Equal amounts of VirB1* could be
detected in concentrated culture supernatants versus associated with the
cell. VirB1* was purified from the supernatant of vir-induced cells by
ammonium sulfate precipitation and Q-Sepharose chromatography. Sequence
analysis of the N terminus of VirB1* localized the processing site after
amino acid 172 of VirB1. Cell-associated VirB1* was partly removed by
vortexing, suggesting a loose association with the cell or active
secretion. However, cross- linking and coimmunoprecipitation showed a close
association of cell- bound VirB1* with the VirB9-VirB7 heterodimer, a
membrane-associated component of the T-complex transfer machinery.
Homologies of the N- terminal part of VirB1 to bacterial transglycosylases
suggest that it may assist T-complex transfer by local lysis of the
bacterial cell wall, whereas the exposed localization of the C-terminal
processing product VirB1* predicts direct interaction with the plant. Thus,
VirB1 may be a bifunctional protein where both parts have different
functions in T-complex transfer from Agrobacterium to plant cells.
Copyright © 1997, American Society for Microbiology
VirB1, a component of the T-complex transfer machinery of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, is processed to a C-terminal secreted product, VirB1
Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California at Berkeley, 94720, USA.
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