EXPRESSION OF THE AGROBACTERIUM-TUMEFACIENS CHVB VIRULENCE REGION IN AZOSPIRILLUM SPP

Inner membranes of Azospirillum brasilense incubated with UDP-glucose were unable to synthesize β-(1-2) glucan and lacked the 235-kilodalton intermediate protein known to be involved in the synthesis of β-(1-2) glucan in Agrobacterium tumefaciens and Rhizobium meliloti. Inner membranes of A. brasilense strains carrying a cosmid containing the chromosomal virulence genes chvA and chvB of Agrobacterium tumefaciens formed β-(1-2) glucan in vitro and synthesized the 235-kilodalton intermediate protein. No DNA homology to the chvB region was found in different wild-type strains of A. brasilense, but the introduction of a cosmid containing the Agrobacterium tumefaciens chvA and chvB regions yielded strains in which DNA hybridization with the chvB region was detected, provided that the strains were grown under an antibiotic selective pressure.