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Gene Review:

virF - hypothetical protein

Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Melchers, L.S. et al., Regensburg-Tuïnk, A.J. et al., Schrammeijer, B. et al., Jarchow, E. et al., Garc??a-Rodr??guez, F.M. et al.

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Disease relevance of virF

Agrobacterium virF mutants can be complemented for tumor induction by co-infection with avirulent Agrobacterium 'helper' strains [1].
Here we isolate transgenic N. glauca plants in which the virF coding sequence is expressed using the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter [2].

High impact information on virF

Nopaline strains are strongly attenuated in N. glauca compared with octopine strains because of the absence of the virF virulence gene from the Ti plasmid in nopaline strains [2].
Transgenic N. glauca plants expressing bacterial virulence gene virF are converted into hosts for nopaline strains of A. tumefaciens [2].
Vir regions from different Ti plasmids may vary slightly in the genes they contain: for instance, the virF gene, which is present in the Vir-region of octopine Ti plasmids, is absent from nopaline Ti plasmids [2].
The transcription of the pTiAg57 virF is inducible by the plant phenolic compound acetosyringone through the presence of a vir-box consensus sequence in its promoter region [3].
Transcription of virF is directed from left to right, towards the T region, and is strongly induced by the phenolic compound acetosyringone [1].

Chemical compound and disease context of virF

Octopine and nopaline strains of Agrobacterium tumefaciens differ in virulence; molecular characterization of the virF locus [1].
Here we show the presence of a virF locus not only on the Agrobacterium vitis octopine/cucumopine plasmids pTiAg57 and pTiTm4, but also on the nopaline Ti plasmids pTiAT1, pTiAT66a, and pTiAT66b [3].

Biological context of virF

This difference is due to the absence of a functional virF locus, which is necessary for efficient tumorigenesis on N. glauca, from the nopaline Ti plasmids [1].
Genetic studies and DNA sequence analysis of the virF locus revealed that virF embraces one open reading frame coding for a hydrophilic protein with a molecular mass of 22,437 Da [1].
However, mutations in the virF locus rendered the octopine strain agroinfectious on maize, whereas such virF-defective octopine strains, when complemented by virF on a plasmid, completely lost their agroinfectivity [4].

Other interactions of virF

Here, we report that double mutation of virF and virE3 leads to strongly diminished tumor formation on tobacco, tomato and sunflower [5].

References

Octopine and nopaline strains of Agrobacterium tumefaciens differ in virulence; molecular characterization of the virF locus. Melchers, L.S., Maroney, M.J., den Dulk-Ras, A., Thompson, D.V., van Vuuren, H.A., Schilperoort, R.A., Hooykaas, P.J. Plant Mol. Biol. (1990) [Pubmed]
Transgenic N. glauca plants expressing bacterial virulence gene virF are converted into hosts for nopaline strains of A. tumefaciens. Regensburg-Tuïnk, A.J., Hooykaas, P.J. Nature (1993) [Pubmed]
The presence and characterization of a virF gene on Agrobacterium vitis Ti plasmids. Schrammeijer, B., Hemelaar, J., Hooykaas, P.J. Mol. Plant Microbe Interact. (1998) [Pubmed]
virF, the host-range-determining virulence gene of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, affects T-DNA transfer to Zea mays. Jarchow, E., Grimsley, N.H., Hohn, B. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (1991) [Pubmed]
The Agrobacterium VirE3 effector protein: a potential plant transcriptional activator. Garc??a-Rodr??guez, F.M., Schrammeijer, B., Hooykaas, P.J. Nucleic Acids Res. (2006) [Pubmed]

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