Agrobacterium Ti Plasmid Ptia6 Encodes an Enzyme That Catalyzes Synthesis of Indoleacetic Acid (Auxin/Indoleacetamide/Oncogenes) LINDA S
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Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 81, pp. 5071-5075, August 1984 Biochemistry Crown gall oncogenesis: Evidence that a T-DNA gene from the Agrobacterium Ti plasmid pTiA6 encodes an enzyme that catalyzes synthesis of indoleacetic acid (auxin/indoleacetamide/oncogenes) LINDA S. THOMASHOW*, SUZANNE REEVES+, AND MICHAEL F. THOMASHOW* *Bacteriology and Public Health and tProgram in Genetics and Cell Biology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-4340 Communicated by Arthur Kelman, April 30, 1984 ABSTRACT Stable incorporation of tumor-inducing (Ti) the pTiA6 transcript 2 gene in auxin independence. The nu- plasmid sequences, the T-DNA, into the genomes of dicotyle- cleotide sequence of the gene has been determined (22, 23). donous plants results in the formation of crown gall tumors. The results indicate that there is a 1404-base-pair open read- Previous genetic studies have suggested that the products of ing frame that could code for a polypeptide of Mr 49,800, a the genes encoding transcripts 1 and 2, which are encoded by value in agreement with the results of Schroder et al. (21). the TL-DNA region of pTiA6, are responsible for inducing the We now have constructed a plasmid that produces the tran- auxin-independent phenotype of crown gall tissues. Here we script 2 gene product at detectable levels in E. coli. Bacterial report the construction of a plasmid, pMTlacT2, which directs extracts containing this protein can convert indoleacetamide the synthesis of the Mr 49,800 polypeptide encoded by the tran- to indoleacetic acid, the natural auxin of plants. script 2 gene. Cell-free extracts prepared from Escherichia coli harboring this plasmid converted indoleacetamide to indole- MATERIALS AND METHODS acetic acid, the natural auxin of plants; extracts prepared from Bacterial Strains. E. coli strains MH3000 [araD139 A(ara, plasmidless strains of E. coli or strains harboring the cloning leu)7697 A(lac)X74 galU galK rpsL (Strr) ompR101] and vehicle pBR322 did not carry out this reaction. We conclude TK1046 [araD.139 A(argF-lac)U169 rpsL150 (Strr) relAl that the transcript 2 gene of pTiA6 codes for an enzyme that flbB5301 deoCi ptsF25 malPQ: :TnS ompBcsl] were ob- participates in auxin biosynthesis, probably an indoleaceta- tained from G. Weinstock and used as described (24) to con- mide hydrolase. struct LacZ+ clones and produce high levels of,galacto- sidase fusion proteins. E. coli MC1061 [araD139 A(ara, leu)7697 A(lac)X74 galU galK hsdR(r-) rpsL (Strr)] was ob- Agrobacterium tumefaciens can infect wound sites on a wide tained from M. Casadaban (University of Chicago) and used range of dicotyledonous plants and cause the formation of to construct pMTlacT2. E. coli SG20251 [araD139 A(lacIPO- crown gall tumors (for reviews, see refs. 1-3). The disease ZYA)U169 A(lon)100 rpsL (Strr) thi cps3::TnlO] was ob- process is characterized by a virulence mechanism that is tained from S. Gottesman (National Institutes of Health) and unique among described procaryotic-eucaryotic cell-cell 2 interactions: it involves the transfer of genetic information used for expression of the cloned transcript gene. from bacterium to plant. All virulent A. tumefaciens strains Plasmids. The open reading frame vehicle pORF2 (24) was harbor one of a diverse group of tumor-inducing (Ti) plas- provided by G. Weinstock. This vector (see Fig. 1) contains mids. During the course of infection, a portion of the Ti plas- the promoter, ribosome binding site, and the first 33 codons mid, the T-DNA, is stably transferred to the plant cells of the E. coli ompF gene fused out of frame to the ninth where it becomes integrated into the nuclear genome (4-10). codon of the lacZ gene of E. coli. There are restriction sites Expression of specific genes encoded by the T-DNA (11-17) at the point of the ompF-lacZ fusion into which DNA seg- causes an alteration in the normal metabolism of auxins and ments can be inserted. If the DNA segment has an open cytokinins, two classes of plant hormones that have key reading frame and if the insert puts the ompF and lacZ se- roles in controlling plant cell growth and development. quences into frame, a multihybrid protein having 03-galacto- Whereas normal plant tissues generally require both of these sidase activity is synthesized. pGL101 (25) was from G. phytohormones for in vitro propagation, crown gall tissues Lauer. This plasmid contains a "portable" promoter-i.e., can be propagated indefinitely without them (18-20). Three the ribosome binding sequences and promoter-operator re- genes encoded by the TL-DNA of octopine-type Ti plasmids gion of the E. coli lac operon. pMT40 contains the HindIII such as pTiA6 are believed to be responsible for this phyto- fragment X of pTiA6 (7) inserted into the HindIII site of hormone-independent phenotype: genes encoding tran- pBR325. To construct pMTaT2 (Fig. 1), this T-DNA frag- Willmitzer et al. are ment was ligated into the HindIII site of pAC1 (26). This scripts 1 and 2, as numbered by (14), latter plasmid is a pBR322 derivative that contains tandem involved in auxin independence; and the transcript 4 gene lac UV5 promoters (including the first eight codons of lacZ) has a role in cytokinin independence (11-15). Protein prod- in the EcoRI site and gives increased expression of the tetra- ucts from these genes have not yet been detected in tumor cycline-resistance gene. However, transcript 2 gene expres- tissues. However, Schroder et al. (21) have shown that they sion is not significantly enhanced in this vehicle (see text). are expressed at low levels in Escherichia coli minicells or in Media and Reagents. LB broth was as described (27). For coupled in vitro transcription-translation systems prepared plasmid maintenance, ampicillin was included at 150 ,ug/ml from either E. coli or A. tumefaciens. Their data indicate in plates and liquid media. LacZ+ clones were detected on that transcripts 1, 2, and 4 encode Mr 74,000, Mr 49,000, and plates containing 40 ,ug of 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-p3-D- Mr 29,000 polypeptides, respectively. galactoside per ml. We have focused our efforts on understanding the role of DNA Manipulations. Restriction enzymes, BAL-31 exonu- clease and T4 DNA ligase were from New England Biolabs The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" Abbreviations: Ti plasmid, tumor-inducing plasmid; T-DNA, Ti in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact. plasmid DNA sequences stably transferred to the plant. 5071 Downloaded by guest on September 26, 2021 5072 Biochemistry: Thomashow et al. Proc. NatL Acad Sci. USA 81 (1984) FIG. 1. Construction of plasmids that code for an ompF-transcript 2-lacZ gene fusion (pLTt2-6) and synthesis of the transcript 2 M, 49,800 protein (pMTlacT2). In step 1, recombinant molecules that coded for the production of OmpF-transcript 2-LacZ proteins were constructed by digesting pMT40 with Bgl II, treating the DNA fragments with BAL-31 and inserting them into the Sma I site of pORF2. These molecules were then transformed into E. coli MH3000, and colonies were screened for f-galactosidase production on plates containing 5-bromo-4-chloro-3- indolyl-f3-D-galactoside. Plasmid pLTt2-6 contained a transcript 2 gene fragment of about 750 base pairs with the same 5'-to-3' orientation as the ompF and lacZ genes. Step 2 shows the construction of pMTaT2Z, a plasmid containing tandem lac promoters upstream ofthe transcript 2-lacZ gene fusion. pLTt2-6 and pMTaT2 were digested with Pst I and Sma I, mixed, ligated, and used to transform E. coli MC1061. E. coli MC1061 harboring pMTaT2Z produced 50 units of /3-galactosidase activity, whereas E. coli with a fully induced lac operon produced about 1000 to 2000 units of the activity. Step 3 shows placement of a lac "portable" promoter upstream to the transcript 2-lacZ gene fusion. pGL101 was digested with Pst I and Pvu II, and the DNA fragment containing the lac promoter and ribosome binding site was gel-purified. pMTaT2Z was linearized by HindIII digestion, treated with BAL-31 for varying amounts of time, digested with Pst I, and the large DNA fragments containing the transcript 2 open reading frame fused to lacZ were gel purified. This DNA was then mixed with the lac promoter fragment, ligated, and used to transform E. coli MC1061. Transformants were identified using indicator plates as before. The bluest colonies were picked and assayed for 3- galactosidase activity. E. coli MC1061 harboring pMTlacT2Z-12 produced 5000 to 6000 units of ,B-galactosidase activity and synthesized a novel protein ofabout M, 153,000, the approximate size expected for the transcript 2-LacZ fusion protein (data not shown). Step 4 shows construction of pMTlacT2, a plasmid producing the Mr 49,800 transcript 2 gene product. pMTaT2 was digested with Pst I and Sma I, and the DNA fragments containing the 3' end of the transcript 2 open reading frame were gel-purified. Plasmid pMTlacT2Z-12 was digested with Pst I and Sma I, mixed with the purified pMTaT2 fragments, ligated, and used to transform E. coli MC1061. Plasmid DNA was isolated from a number of white transformants on the indicator plates, and the desired plasmid, pMTlacT2, was identified by restriction enzyme analysis. It contained the transcript 2 gene preceded by the lac promoter and ribosome binding site. bla, 3-lactamase; tet, tetracycline resistance; P, Pst I; E, EcoRI; B, BamHI; S, Sma I; H, HindIII; PV, Pvu II; lacPSD, the lac promoter and ribosome binding site; lacP, the tandem lac promoters from pAC1.