Maneewan Suksomtip. The role of citrate synthase encoded gene on virulence of agrobacterium tumefaciens strain C58 . Doctoral Degree(Biochemistry). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2004.
The role of citrate synthase encoded gene on virulence of agrobacterium tumefaciens strain C58
Abstract:
Agrobacterium tumefaciens is a gram negative plant pathogenic bacteria which is
widely used as a tool for genetically engineering plants. The processes necessary for
virulence were extensively studied and it was found that all important processes for
virulence need energy. In this study the role of citrate synthase (CS) on virulence of
Agrobacterium tumefaciens was examined by making CS deleted mutant strains of
Agrobacterium. The result showed that cisY gene on circular chromosome is
responsible for the majority of CS enzyme activity. In single deleted mutants, cis, cisZ
(Atu5307) and cisZ (Atu4851) deleted mutants had no significant effect on CS
enzyme activity or other phenotypes, whereas a null mutation in cisY affected the level
of CS enzyme activity and other phenotypes. Moreover, the incidence which indicated
that there might be an up-regulation of cisZ (Atu5307) was observed when both cisZ
(Atu4851) and cisY gene were deleted together. The attempt to delete all 4 copies of
this gene together did not succeed.But theTriple M(C58485113925307) showed
the lowest level of enzyme activity. The cisY gene mutant and Triple M
(C58485113925307) have several different phenotypes from wild type
strain. Furthermore, attenuated virulence was also observed in both strains. The level
of vir gene induction was also significantly reduced in both mutant strains, which
could be restored by constitutive mutant virG, whereas the virulence phenotype can
only be partially restored by constitutive virG in cisY mutant. These results
suggested that CS gene deletion not only reduced vir gene induction but also
affected other factors essential for tumor induction which need further investigation.