This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Li, P.-L.
Right arrow Articles by Farrand, S. K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Li, P.-L.
Right arrow Articles by Farrand, S. K.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, December 1998, p. 6164-6172, Vol. 180, No. 23
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Genetic and Sequence Analysis of the pTiC58 trb Locus, Encoding a Mating-Pair Formation System Related to Members of the Type IV Secretion Family

Pei-Li Li,1 Dawn M. Everhart,2,dagger and Stephen K. Farrand1,2,*

Departments of Crop Sciences1 and Microbiology,2 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801

Received 1 May 1998/Accepted 17 September 1998

Conjugal transfer of pTiC58 requires two regions, tra which contains the oriT and several genes involved in DNA processing and a region of undefined size and function that is located at the 2-o'clock position of the plasmid. Using transposon mutagenesis with Tn3HoHo1 and a binary transfer system, we delimited this second region, called trb, to an 11-kb interval between the loci for vegetative replication and nopaline catabolism. DNA sequence analysis of this region identified 13 significant open reading frames (ORFs) spanning 11,003 bp. The first, encoding traI, already has been described and is responsible for the synthesis of Agrobacterium autoinducer (AAI) (I. Hwang, P.-L. Li, L. Zhang, K. R. Piper, D. M. Cook, M. E. Tate, and S. K. Farrand, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91:4639-4643, 1994). Translation products of the next 11 ORFs showed similarities to those of trbB, -C, -D, -E, -J, -K, -L, -F, -G, -H, and -I of the trb region of the octopine-type Ti plasmid pTi15955 and of the tra2 core region of RP4. In RP4, these genes encode mating-pair formation functions and are essential for the conjugal transfer of the IncP plasmid. Each of the trb gene homologues is oriented counterclockwise on the Ti plasmid. Expression of these genes, as measured by using the lacZ fusions formed by Tn3HoHo1, required the traI promoter and the transcriptional activator TraR along with its coinducer, AAI. While related to that of RP4, the trb system of pTiC58 did not allow propagation of the trb-specific bacteriophages PRD1, PRR1, and Pf3. The products of several trb genes of the Ti plasmid are similar to those of other loci that encode DNA transfer or protein secretion systems, all of which are members of the type IV secretion family.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 240 Edward R. Madigan Laboratory, 1201 West Gregory Dr., Urbana, IL 61801. Phone: (217) 333-1524. Fax: (217) 244-7830. E-mail: stephenf{at}uiuc.edu.

dagger Present address: Family Practice Residency Program, Quad City Genesis, Davenport, IA 52807.

Journal of Bacteriology, December 1998, p. 6164-6172, Vol. 180, No. 23
0021-9193/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Tsai, Y.-L., Wang, M.-H., Gao, C., Klusener, S., Baron, C., Narberhaus, F., Lai, E.-M. (2009). Small heat-shock protein HspL is induced by VirB protein(s) and promotes VirB/D4-mediated DNA transfer in Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Microbiology 155: 3270-3280 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Karnholz, A., Hoefler, C., Odenbreit, S., Fischer, W., Hofreuter, D., Haas, R. (2006). Functional and Topological Characterization of Novel Components of the comB DNA Transformation Competence System in Helicobacter pylori. J. Bacteriol. 188: 882-893 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Qin, Y., Luo, Z.-Q., Farrand, S. K. (2004). Domains Formed within the N-terminal Region of the Quorumsensing Activator TraR Are Required for Transcriptional Activation and Direct Interaction with RpoA from Agrobacterium. J. Biol. Chem. 279: 40844-40851 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Gonzalez, J. E., Marketon, M. M. (2003). Quorum Sensing in Nitrogen-Fixing Rhizobia. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 67: 574-592 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Tun-Garrido, C., Bustos, P., Gonzalez, V., Brom, S. (2003). Conjugative Transfer of p42a from Rhizobium etli CFN42, Which Is Required for Mobilization of the Symbiotic Plasmid, Is Regulated by Quorum Sensing. J. Bacteriol. 185: 1681-1692 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Chen, L., Chen, Y., Wood, D. W., Nester, E. W. (2002). A New Type IV Secretion System Promotes Conjugal Transfer in Agrobacterium tumefaciens. J. Bacteriol. 184: 4838-4845 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sullivan, J. T., Trzebiatowski, J. R., Cruickshank, R. W., Gouzy, J., Brown, S. D., Elliot, R. M., Fleetwood, D. J., McCallum, N. G., Rossbach, U., Stuart, G. S., Weaver, J. E., Webby, R. J., de Bruijn, F. J., Ronson, C. W. (2002). Comparative Sequence Analysis of the Symbiosis Island of Mesorhizobium loti Strain R7A. J. Bacteriol. 184: 3086-3095 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Oger, P., Farrand, S. K. (2002). Two Opines Control Conjugal Transfer of an Agrobacterium Plasmid by Regulating Expression of Separate Copies of the Quorum-Sensing Activator Gene traR. J. Bacteriol. 184: 1121-1131 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Vedantam, G., Hecht, D. W. (2002). Isolation and Characterization of BTF-37: Chromosomal DNA Captured from Bacteroides fragilis That Confers Self-Transferability and Expresses a Pilus-Like Structure in Bacteroides spp. and Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 184: 728-738 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Luo, Z.-Q., Farrand, S. K. (2001). The Agrobacterium tumefaciens rnd Homolog Is Required for TraR-Mediated Quorum-Dependent Activation of Ti Plasmid tra Gene Expression. J. Bacteriol. 183: 3919-3930 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hamilton, C. M., Lee, H., Li, P.-L., Cook, D. M., Piper, K. R., von Bodman, S. B., Lanka, E., Ream, W., Farrand, S. K. (2000). TraG from RP4 and TraG and VirD4 from Ti Plasmids Confer Relaxosome Specificity to the Conjugal Transfer System of pTiC58. J. Bacteriol. 182: 1541-1548 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Piper, K. R., Farrand, S. K. (2000). Quorum Sensing but Not Autoinduction of Ti Plasmid Conjugal Transfer Requires Control by the Opine Regulon and the Antiactivator TraM. J. Bacteriol. 182: 1080-1088 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Li, P.-L., Farrand, S. K. (2000). The Replicator of the Nopaline-Type Ti Plasmid pTiC58 Is a Member of the repABC Family and Is Influenced by the TraR-Dependent Quorum-Sensing Regulatory System. J. Bacteriol. 182: 179-188 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Li, P.-L., Hwang, I., Miyagi, H., True, H., Farrand, S. K. (1999). Essential Components of the Ti Plasmid trb System, a Type IV Macromolecular Transporter. J. Bacteriol. 181: 5033-5041 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Eisenbrandt, R., Kalkum, M., Lai, E.-M., Lurz, R., Kado, C. I., Lanka, E. (1999). Conjugative Pili of IncP Plasmids, and the Ti Plasmid T Pilus Are Composed of Cyclic Subunits. J. Biol. Chem. 274: 22548-22555 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Piper, K. R., Farrand, S. K. (1999). Conjugal Transfer but Not Quorum-Dependent tra Gene Induction of pTiC58 Requires a Solid Surface. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65: 2798-2801 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»