Genetic studies on the role of octopine T-DNA border regions in crown gall tumor formation

A critical review on use of Agrobacterium rhizogenes and their associated binary vectors for plant transformation

Agrobacterium rhizogenes, along with A. tumefaciens, has been used to affect genetic transformation in plants for many years. Detailed studies conducted in the past have uncovered the basic mechanism of foreign gene transfer and the implication of Ri/Ti plasmids in this process. A number of reviews exist describing the usage of binary vectors with A. tumefaciens, but no comprehensive account of the numerous binary vectors employed with A. rhizogenes and their successful applications has been published till date. In this review, we recollect a brief history of development of Ri-plasmid/Ri-T-DNA based binary vectors systems and their successful implementation with A. rhizogenes for different applications. The modification of native Ri plasmid to introduce foreign genes followed by development of binary vector using Ri plasmid and how it facilitated rapid and feasible genetic manipulation, earlier impossible with native Ri plasmid, have been discussed. An important milestone was the development of inducible plant expressing promoter systems which made expression of toxic genes in plant systems possible. The successful application of binary vectors in conjunction with A. rhizogenes in gene silencing and genome editing studies which are relatively newer developments, demonstrating the amenability and adaptability of hairy roots systems to make possible studying previously intractable research areas have been summarized in the present review.

Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation: the biology behind the "gene-jockeying" tool

Agrobacterium tumefaciens and related Agrobacterium species have been known as plant pathogens since the beginning of the 20th century. However, only in the past two decades has the ability of Agrobacterium to transfer DNA to plant cells been harnessed for the purposes of plant genetic engineering. Since the initial reports in the early 1980s using Agrobacterium to generate transgenic plants, scientists have attempted to improve this "natural genetic engineer" for biotechnology purposes. Some of these modifications have resulted in extending the host range of the bacterium to economically important crop species. However, in most instances, major improvements involved alterations in plant tissue culture transformation and regeneration conditions rather than manipulation of bacterial or host genes. Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation is a highly complex and evolved process involving genetic determinants of both the bacterium and the host plant cell. In this article, I review some of the basic biology concerned with Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation. Knowledge of fundamental biological principles embracing both the host and the pathogen have been and will continue to be key to extending the utility of Agrobacterium for genetic engineering purposes.

Function of heterologous and pseudo border repeats in T region transfer via the octopine virulence system of Agrobacterium tumefaciens

The successful transfer of the Ti plasmid T region to the plant cell is mediated by its 24 bp border repeats. Processing of the T-region prior to transfer to the plant cell is started at the right border repeat and is stimulated by a transfer enhancer sequence called "overdrive". Left and right border repeats differ somewhat in nucleotide sequence; moreover, the repeats of different Ti and Ri plasmids are slightly different. Our data indicate that these differences do not have a significant influence on border activity. However, the overdrive sequence is essential for the efficient transfer of a T region via an octopine transfer system. Our data suggest that an overdrive sequence must also be present next to the right border repeats of the nopaline Ti plasmid and the agropine of octopine and nopaline Ti plasmids express some differences in T-DNA processing activities. of cotopine and nopaline Ti plasmids express some differences in T-DNA processing activities.Furthermore, we demonstrate that certain pseudo border repeats, sequences that resemble the native 24 bp border repeat and naturally occur within the octopine Ti plasmid T-region, are able to mediate T region transfer to the plant cell, albeit with much reduced efficiency as compared to wild-type border repeats.

Right-border sequences enable the left border of an Agrobacterium tumefaciens nopaline Ti-plasmid to produce single-stranded DNA

The T-region of nopaline-type Ti-plasmids (the portion of the plasmid that is transferred to plant cells) of Agrobacterium tumefaciens is delimited by 23-25 bp direct repeats. They are nicked by the products of the virD locus and the presence of these nicked sites is correlated with the synthesis of single-stranded T-region copies. Despite previous indications to the contrary, we show that the pTiT37 T-region left border is capable of producing single-stranded DNA with high efficiency and that its ability to do so is totally dependent on right border-proximal cis-acting sequences, most probably overdrive, located several kilobases from the border. The absence of overdrive does not affect the single-strand nicking activity of the virD product but only the production of single-stranded copies from the nicked substrate.

A new vector derived from Agrobacterium rhizogenes plasmids: a micro-Ri plasmid and its use to construct a mini-Ri plasmid

A new binary vector system has been constructed, based on agropine-type root-inducing plasmid (pRi) left transferred-region border sequences cloned in a plasmid containing the replication origin of another A. rhizogenes plasmid (pArA4a). This micro-pRi has been used to introduce a chimeric kanamycin resistance gene into tobacco plants, vir functions being provided by either octopine or nopaline tumor-inducing plasmids deleted of their own transferred regions. In addition, we show that cloning of pRi EcoRI fragment 15, which contains three open reading frames (which may correspond to loci rolA, B and C), in the micro-Ri vector generates a mini-pRi capable of inducing the proliferation of transformed roots.

Functional analysis of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens octopine Ti-plasmid left and right T-region border fragments

Border fragments of the octopine Ti-plasmid were tested for their ability to restore tumorigenicity of an avirulent mutant carrying a deleted right border. It was found that neither introduction of left border fragments nor that of small right border fragments at the position of the deletion resulted in a complete restoration of oncogenicity. However, insertion of a larger right border fragment in the deletion mutant gave fully oncogenic strains. In the latter case sequences to the right side of the right border repeat were found to be responsible for a complete restoration of oncogenicity. Also a left border repeat inserted together with this enhancer sequence fully restored the oncogenicity of the deletion mutant. The enhancer-sequence on itself was not able to mediate the transfer of the T-region to the plant cell. Border fragments inserted in inverted orientation in the deletion mutant were able to mediate the transfer of the T-region to the plant cell, but at a reduced frequency.