Open AccessLocalization of the protein VirB1 involved in contact formation during conjugation among Agrobacterium cells
Author(s) -
Chumakov Mikhail I,
Kurbanova Irina V
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.1998.tb13287.x
Subject(s) - acetosyringone , agrobacterium tumefaciens , nitrocellulose , colloidal gold , biophysics , microbiology and biotechnology , pilus , biology , chemistry , cell , membrane , biochemistry , transformation (genetics) , materials science , nanotechnology , gene , virulence , nanoparticle
Supramembrane structures of Agrobacterium , which link cells during mating, were for the first time visualized using transmission electron microscopy. The initial cell contact was found to be mediated by long pili. Using colloidal gold‐labeled, VirB1‐specific antibodies, it was established that VirB1 proteins enter into the composition of short pilus‐like structures, which emerge at the poles of acetosyringone (AS)‐induced agrobacterial cells. Labeling of non‐centrifuged agrobacterial cells on a nitrocellulose membrane using colloidal gold‐conjugated antibodies to VirB1 showed that the labeled complex could bind to AS‐induced cells, but failed to form red stains during incubation with cells of the Ti plasmidless A. tumefaciens strains LBA288 and UBAPF‐2.