The agrocin encoding function of agrobacterium tumefaciens

Abstract

Agrobacterium tumefaciens causes crown gall disease in dicotyledonous plants, reducing yield and therefore is a major economic problem. Biological control of this disease is desirable; other methods arc costly or impractical. An agrocin productivity K84, is used to control crown gall. However, many South African strains are resistant to K84. One aim of this study was to isolate new agrocin producing strains with a broader host spectrum. Another was to transfer the agrocin 84 encoding plasmid to a benign soil species, Rhizobim. One strain isolated, D286 (biotype 1), produced a broad host range agrocin active against strains carrying nepaline, octopine or agropineTi plasmids. Agrocin was produced briefly in log phase. Strain D286 harboured a large cryptic plasmid and a smaller plasmid which may encode agrocin production...