Novel toxin-antitoxin system composed of serine protease and AAA-ATPase homologues determines the high level of stability and incompatibility of the tumor-inducing plasmid pTiC58.

ABSTRACT: Stability of plant tumor-inducing (Ti) plasmids differs among strains. A high level of stability prevents basic and applied studies including the development of useful strains. The nopaline type Ti plasmid pTiC58 significantly reduces the transconjugant efficiency for incoming incompatible plasmids relative to the other type, such as octopine-type plasmids. In this study we identified a region that increases the incompatibility and stability of the plasmid. This region was located on a 4.3-kbp segment about 38 kbp downstream of the replication locus, repABC. We named two open reading frames in the segment, ietA and ietS, both of which were essential for the high level of incompatibility and stability. Plasmid stabilization by ietAS was accomplished by a toxin-antitoxin (TA) mechanism, wher

SUBMITTER: Yamamoto S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2704731 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature