title: virF, the host-range-determining virulence gene of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, affects T-DNA transfer to Zea mays.
abstract: The monocotyledonous plant Zea mays does not develop tumors after inoculation with Agrobacterium tumefaciens and is thus defined as nonhost. Agroinfection, Agrobacterium-mediated delivery of maize streak virus, demonstrates that transferred DNA (T-DNA) transfer to the plant does occur. Nopaline-type Agrobacterium strains such as C58 are efficient in the transfer process whereas the octopine-type strain A6 is unable to transfer T-DNA to maize. This phenotypic difference maps to the tumor-inducing (Ti) plasmid but not to the T-DNA. Steps preceding T-DNA transfer, such as attachment and induction of the virulence genes, were shown to take place in the octopine strain. The nopaline-plasmid-specific locus tzs and the octopine-plasmid-specific locus pinF (virH) are not involved in the strain specificity. However, mutations in the virF locus rendered the octopine strain agroinfectious on maize, whereas such virF-defective octopine strains, when complemented by virF on a plasmid, completely lost their agroinfectivity. We propose that VirF, known to increase the host range of the bacteria in other systems, acts as an inhibitor of T-DNA transfer to maize.
authors.affiliation: Friedrich Miescher-Institut, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jarchow
authors.forename: N H
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Grimsley
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hohn