Plant-Bacteria Interactions Laboratory, Departamento Microbiología del Suelo y Sistemas Simbióticos, Estación Experimental del Zaidín, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Profesor Albareda 1, Granada, Spain.
J Bacteriol. 2010 Dec;192(23):6309-12. doi: 10.1128/JB.00549-10. Epub 2010 Oct 1.
Sinorhizobium meliloti 1021 carries two megaplasmids, pSymA of 1,354 kb and pSymB of 1,683 kb, which are essential in establishing symbiosis with its legume hosts and important for bacterial fitness in the rhizosphere. We have previously shown that pSymA is self-transmissible and that its conjugal functions are regulated by the transcriptional repressor RctA. Here, we show conjugal transfer of pSymB as an in trans mobilization event that requires the type IV secretion system encoded by pSymA. pSymB carries a functional oriT and an adjacent relaxase gene, traA2, that is also transcriptionally repressed by rctA. Both symbiotic megaplasmids would require the relaxase genes in cis with their respective oriTs to achieve the highest transfer efficiencies.
苜蓿中华根瘤菌 1021 携带两个大型质粒,pSymA 为 1354kb,pSymB 为 1683kb,这对于与豆科宿主建立共生关系以及在根际中保持细菌适应性至关重要。我们之前已经表明,pSymA 可以自我转移,其共轭功能受转录抑制剂 RctA 的调控。在这里,我们展示了 pSymB 的共轭转移作为一个反式动员事件,需要由 pSymA 编码的 IV 型分泌系统来完成。pSymB 带有功能性 oriT 和相邻的松弛酶基因 traA2,该基因也受到 rctA 的转录抑制。这两个共生大型质粒都需要松弛酶基因与其各自的 oriT 顺式排列,以实现最高的转移效率。