The effect of right terminal repeat deletion on the oncogenicity of the T-Region of pTiT37.

A modified pTiT37 plasmid was constructed by deleting a 103 base fragment between an AhaIII and a Bc/I site. This fragment, located to the right of the nopaline synthase gene contains the right terminal 25 base pair repeat sequence which defines the right limit of the T-Region. The effect of this deletion was determined on a number of host plants. In contrast to previous reports, the deletion does not destroy tumorigenicity on all plant species. It had no effect on tumorigenicity when Linum usitatissimum was used as the test species and an attenuating effect when Kalanchoë tubiflora was used. Only when Nicotiana tabacum was used did the mutant appear avirulent. We propose from these data and the phenotype of those tumours that form, that a pseudo border located in the 3' untranslated region of the ipt locus has been used to provide the right hand limit of the T-Region in the absence of the normal border.