Mannopinic acid and agropinic acid catabolism region of the octopine-type Ti plasmid pTi15955.

Octopine-type Ti plasmids such as pTi15955, pTiA6 and pTiR10 direct the catabolism of at least eight compounds called opines that are released from crown gall tumours. Four of these compounds are denoted mannityl opines, each of which possesses a D-mannityl substituent on the nitrogen atom of either glutamate or glutamine. We have analysed a 20 kb region of the Ti plasmid pTi15955 that is required for the catabolism of two such opines, mannopinic acid and agropinic acid. A total of 12 genes in four operons were identified by DNA sequence analysis. Transposons Tn5lacZ and MudK were used to mutagenize these genes and to create aga-lacZ and moa-lacZ translational fusions. The expression of all fusions was induced by agropinic acid and by mannopinic acid. One of these four operons encodes an agropinic acid permease, whereas a second one encodes a mannopinic acid permease. A third operon contains three genes encoding probable catabolic enzymes, two of which (AgaF and AgaG) are thought to convert agropinic acid to mannopinic acid, while the third (AgaE) probably converts mannopinic acid to mannose and glutamate. AgaE resembles a bacterial amino acid deaminase, whereas AgaF and AgaG resemble two bacterial proteins that together catabolize substituted hydantoins, whose chemical structure resembles that of agropinic acid. The remaining operon encoded the MoaR protein, a negative regulator of itself and of the other three operons.