title: A LuxR-LuxI type regulatory system activates Agrobacterium Ti plasmid conjugal transfer in the presence of a plant tumor metabolite.
abstract: Conjugal transfer of Agrobacterium octopine-type Ti plasmids is activated by octopine, a metabolite released from plant tumors. Octopine causes conjugal donors to secrete a pheromone, Agrobacterium autoinducer (AAI), and exogenous AAI further stimulates conjugation. The putative AAI synthase and an AAI-responsive transcriptional regulator were found to be encoded by the Ti plasmid traI and traR genes, respectively, and the expression of traR was induced by octopine. The octopine-type traR gene product is highly homologous to the TraR protein recently characterized from a nopaline-type Ti plasmid. TraR and TraI are homologous to the LuxR and LuxI regulatory proteins of Vibrio fischeri, and AAI is similar in structure to the diffusable V. fischeri autoinducer, the inducing ligand of LuxR. TraR activated target genes in the presence of AAI and also activated traR and traI themselves, creating two positive-feedback loops. TraR-AAI-mediated activation in wild-type Agrobacterium strains was dramatically enhanced by culturing on solid media, suggesting a possible role in cell density sensing.
authors.affiliation: Section of Microbiology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853.
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Fuqua
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Winans
mesh_terms: D016960:Agrobacterium tumefaciens / Q000235:genetics*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D003227:Conjugation, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D004265:DNA Helicases / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005798:Genes, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D005809:Genes, Regulator / Q000235:genetics; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C080512:TraR protein, Agrobacterium tumefaciens; D014157:Transcription Factors; C073469:OccR protein, Bacteria; C027093:TraI protein, E coli; D004265:DNA Helicases