• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.41-48
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• 1984

The soil bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a plant pathogen that cause3 crown gall tumors by infecting the wounded dicotyledonous plants and subsequent integration of bacterial DNA into plant nuclear DNA. Virulent A. tumefaciens strains harbor a large Ti (tumor-inducing) plasmid that carries genes essential for tumorigenesis. In the present study, 13 strains (Malus pumila Mill; $A_{1-3}$, Populus monilifera; $W_{1-6}$, Populus tomentiglandlosa; $P_{1-3}$ and Rosa species; $R_1$) of Agrobacterium isolated in korean crown gall tumors and plasmids were observed in 6 strains ($W_2$, $W_3$, $W_6$, $P_1$, $P_3$ and $A_2$). The test for crown gall tumor formation was resulted only in ATCC15955 and $KW_2$ strains inoculated into the stem of sun flower and the development was observed for 4 and 6 weeks after inoculation. Above two Ti plasmids (pTi) were purified by cesium chloride-ethidium bromide density gradient centrifugation and digested with restriction enzyme and fragments of pTiATCC 15955 and $pTiKW_2$ observed by EcoR I ; 25&27, Hind III; 23&21, BamH I ; each 20 and Hpa I ; 12&27, and sizes of pTiATCC15955 and and $pTiKW_2$ calculated as 200 and 87 kbases. Octopine was isolated from tumor tissue ($W_{1-6}$ and $P_{1-3}$) and these strains confirmed as octopine type.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.637-645
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• 1999

Two putative regulator genes, mocR and mocS, of the moc (mannityl opine catabolism) operons in pTi15955 of the octopine-/mannityl opine-type Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain 15955, were tested for their possible roles as repressors in the moc operons. The regions upstream of macC and mocD, the first structural genes in the two divergently oriented moc operons, were transcriptionally fused into the promoterless lacZ reporter gene. Each of the lacZ-fusions was introduced into Agrobacterium strain UIA5, a Ti plasmid-cured derivative, harboring either a mocR or a mocS clone. The resulting strains were grown in media containing various sugar sources, and the $\beta$-galactosidase activities were quantitatively measured. The results suggested that MocR repressed the expression of macC and macD. The expression of the fused $\beta$-galactosidase was not induced by mannopine (MOP) or possible catabolic intermediates of the opine, e.g. santhopine (SOP), glucose, mannose, or glutamine. However, the repression was significantly relieved by the supplementation of MOP and the concomitant introduction of the agcA gene encoding MOP cyclase that catalyzes the lactonization of MOP to agropine (AGR). These results suggested that AGR, rather than MOP or the other catabolic intermediates, is the inducer for the expression of the operon. On the contrary to previous report showing that the induction levels of macC and macD were lowered by the supplementation of inorganic nitrogen in media, the expression of these genes was not affected by the level of nitrogen in our reporter system. MocS did not strongly repress the expressions of macC and mocD. It is possible that MocS may be involved in the regulation of the operons present downstream of the moc operon, which are responsible for the utilization of mannopinic acid and agropinic acid.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.175-181
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• 1985

Agrobacterium tumefaciens induces cancerous growths called crown galls at wound sites on dicotyledonous plants. A large plasmid called Ti plasmid is responsible for virulence. Upon tumor induction, part of the plasmid, termed T-DNA, becomes integrated into plant genome and its genetic sequences are expressed. These properties allow Ti plasmids to be used as gene vectors in plants. Several in vitro methods for the transfer of Ti plasmid into plant cell have been developed. One of them is the treatment of bacterial spheroplasts and plant protoplasts mixture with polyethylene glycol that is generally used as fusogen in cell-to-cell fusion. Several workers investigated the interaction of bacterial spheroplasts with plant protoplasts in the presence of polyethylene glycol and suggested that the interaction is not fusion but endocytosis. In this report we observed the interaction of Agrobacterium tumefaciens spheroplasts with Nicotiana tabacum protoplasts by electron microscope. Agrobacterium tumefaciens spheroplasts and Nicotiana tabacum protoplasts were prepared and mixed in the presence of polyethylene glycol and high pH-high $Ca^{2+}$ buffer. Then the interaction of the spheroplasts with the protoplasts was examined by transmission electron microscope. After the treatment of polyethylene glycol the spheroplasts adhered to the surface of the protoplasts and then they were engulfed by the protoplasts. After the high pH-high $Ca^{2+}$ buffer treatment the engulfed spheroplasts lost their cell integrity. No fusion process was observed. Thus all these observations suggest that the introduction process of Agrobacterium tumefaciens spheroplasts into Nicotiana tabacum protoplasts with the aid of polyethylene glycol is endocytosis.