Role of the VirA histidine autokinase of Agrobacterium tumefaciens in the initial steps of pathogenesis.

ABSTRACT: Histidine kinases serve as critical environmental sensing modules, and despite their designation as simple two-component modules, their functional roles are remarkably diverse. In Agrobacterium tumefaciens pathogenesis, VirA serves with VirG as the initiating sensor/transcriptional activator for inter-kingdom gene transfer and transformation of higher plants. Through responses to three separate signal inputs, low pH, sugars, and phenols, A. tumefaciens commits to pathogenesis in virtually all flowering plants. However, how these three signals are integrated to regulate the response and why these signals might be diagnostic for susceptible cells across such a broad host-range remains poorly understood. Using a homology model of the VirA linker region, we provide evidence for coordinated lon

SUBMITTER: Lin YH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4030172 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature