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 Luo, Z.-Q.
Right arrow Articles by Farrand, S. K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Luo, Z.-Q.
Right arrow Articles by Farrand, S. K.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, January 1999, p. 618-626, Vol. 181, No. 2
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Cloning and Characterization of a Tetracycline Resistance Determinant Present in Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58

Zhao-Qing Luo1 and Stephen K. Farrand1,2,*

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

Received 14 September 1998/Accepted 7 November 1998

Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 and its derivatives give rise to spontaneous mutants resistant to tetracycline at a high frequency. We observed that a mutation affecting a tRNA processing function significantly affected the emergence of such mutants, suggesting that C58 contained a positively acting gene conferring resistance to tetracycline. A cosmid clone conferring resistance to tetracycline in Escherichia coli and Agrobacterium was isolated from a genomic bank of one such mutant. Subcloning, transposon mutagenesis, and DNA sequence analysis revealed that this DNA fragment contained two divergently transcribed genes, tetA and tetR, encoding products that were very similar to proteins of the Tet(A) class of tetracycline resistance systems. In the clone from this mutant, tetR was disrupted by an IS426. The homologous region from wild-type NT1 contained an intact tetR gene and did not confer resistance to tetracycline. Hybridization analysis showed that of 22 members of the genus Agrobacterium surveyed, only strains C58 and T37 contained the tet determinant. Moreover, only these two strains mutated to resistance to this antibiotic. Unlike other Tet(A) systems, neither tetracycline nor a series of its derivatives induced the expression of this tet gene unit. Other polycyclic compounds, including many of plant origin, also did not induce this tet gene system. The divergent promoter region of this tet system contained a single inverted repeat element identical to one such operator repeat in the promoter region of the tet determinant from the IncP1alpha R plasmid RP4. TetR repressor proteins from the Agrobacterium tet system and from RP4 interacted with the heterologous operators. While the repressive effect of the TetR protein from strain C58 (TetRC58) on the tetA gene from strain RP4 (tetARP4) was not relieved by tetracycline, repression of tetAC58 by TetRRP4 was lifted by this antibiotic.

* 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) 333-1526. Fax: (217) 244-7830. E-mail: stephenf{at}uiuc.edu.

Journal of Bacteriology, January 1999, p. 618-626, Vol. 181, No. 2
0021-9193/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Lee, L.-Y., Gelvin, S. B. (2008). T-DNA Binary Vectors and Systems. Plant Physiol. 146: 325-332 [Full Text]  
  • Khan, S. R., Herman, J., Krank, J., Serkova, N. J., Churchill, M. E. A., Suga, H., Farrand, S. K. (2007). N-(3-Hydroxyhexanoyl)-L-Homoserine Lactone Is the Biologically Relevant Quormone That Regulates the phz Operon of Pseudomonas chlororaphis Strain 30-84. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73: 7443-7455 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Thompson, S. A., Maani, E. V., Lindell, A. H., King, C. J., McArthur, J. V. (2007). Novel Tetracycline Resistance Determinant Isolated from an Environmental Strain of Serratia marcescens. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 73: 2199-2206 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Khan, S. R., Mavrodi, D. V., Jog, G. J., Suga, H., Thomashow, L. S., Farrand, S. K. (2005). Activation of the phz Operon of Pseudomonas fluorescens 2-79 Requires the LuxR Homolog PhzR, N-(3-OH-Hexanoyl)-L-Homoserine Lactone Produced by the LuxI Homolog PhzI, and a cis-Acting phz Box. J. Bacteriol. 187: 6517-6527 [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]  
  • Aminov, R. I., Chee-Sanford, J. C., Garrigues, N., Teferedegne, B., Krapac, I. J., White, B. A., Mackie, R. I. (2002). Development, Validation, and Application of PCR Primers for Detection of Tetracycline Efflux Genes of Gram-Negative Bacteria. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68: 1786-1793 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wood, D. W., Setubal, J. C., Kaul, R., Monks, D. E., Kitajima, J. P., Okura, V. K., Zhou, Y., Chen, L., Wood, G. E., Almeida Jr., N. F., Woo, L., Chen, Y., Paulsen, I. T., Eisen, J. A., Karp, P. D., Bovee Sr., D., Chapman, P., Clendenning, J., Deatherage, G., Gillet, W., Grant, C., Kutyavin, T., Levy, R., Li, M.-J., McClelland, E., Palmieri, A., Raymond, C., Rouse, G., Saenphimmachak, C., Wu, Z., Romero, P., Gordon, D., Zhang, S., Yoo, H., Tao, Y., Biddle, P., Jung, M., Krespan, W., Perry, M., Gordon-Kamm, B., Liao, L., Kim, S., Hendrick, C., Zhao, Z.-Y., Dolan, M., Chumley, F., Tingey, S. V., Tomb, J.-F., Gordon, M. P., Olson, M. V., Nester, E. W. (2001). The Genome of the Natural Genetic Engineer Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58. Science 294: 2317-2323 [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]  
  • Chopra, I., Roberts, M. (2001). Tetracycline Antibiotics: Mode of Action, Applications, Molecular Biology, and Epidemiology of Bacterial Resistance. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. 65: 232-260 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Luo, Z.-Q., Qin, Y., Farrand, S. K. (2000). The Antiactivator TraM Interferes with the Autoinducer-dependent Binding of TraR to DNA by Interacting with the C-terminal Region of the Quorum-sensing Activator. J. Biol. Chem. 275: 7713-7722 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Schnabel, E. L., Jones, A. L. (1999). Distribution of Tetracycline Resistance Genes and Transposons among Phylloplane Bacteria in Michigan Apple Orchards. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65: 4898-4907 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Luo, Z.-Q., Farrand, S. K. (1999). Signal-dependent DNA binding and functional domains of the quorum-sensing activator TraR as identified by repressor activity. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96: 9009-9014 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Levy, S. B., McMurry, L. M., Barbosa, T. M., Burdett, V., Courvalin, P., Hillen, W., Roberts, M. C., Rood, J. I., Taylor, D. E. (1999). Nomenclature for New Tetracycline Resistance Determinants. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 43: 1523-1524 [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»