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Mutational analysis of the conserved domains of a T-region border repeat of Agrobacterium tumefaciens

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Abstract

Left-and right-border repeats, which surround the T-region, contain two conserved regions separated by 5 bp that are not conserved. At the onset of T-DNA processing virD-encoded proteins introduce a nick in the largest of these conserved regions (12 bp) at a specific position in the bottom strand between a guanine and thymine nucleotide [2, 33]. In this paper we describe the effect of several site-directed mutations in the right-border repeat on tumorigenicity of Agrobacterium in plants. Our data show that mutations introduced directly around the nick site do not seriously affect the tumorigenicity of Agrobacterium, whereas mutations in the right part of this 12 bp conserved region do so. Furthermore, it appeared that the second conserved region (5 bp) is also essential for border activity and that the distance between the two conserved regions is important to obtain optimal border activity.

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Author notes

  1. H. A. de Boer

    Present address: Gorlaeus Laboratorium, Einsteinweg 5, 2333 CC, Leiden, Netherlands

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Molecular Biology, Leiden University, Wassenaarseweg 64, 2333 AL, Leiden, Netherlands

    M. J. J. van Haaren, N. J. A. Sedee, R. A. Schilperoort & P. J. J. Hooykaas

  2. Department of Molecular Biology, Genentech, Inc., Point San Bruno Boulevard, 94080, South San Fransisco, CA, U.S.A.

    H. A. de Boer

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  1. M. J. J. van Haaren
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  4. R. A. Schilperoort
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  5. P. J. J. Hooykaas
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van Haaren, M.J.J., Sedee, N.J.A., de Boer, H.A. et al. Mutational analysis of the conserved domains of a T-region border repeat of Agrobacterium tumefaciens . Plant Mol Biol 13, 523–531 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027312

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00027312

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