Expression of virB2 protein-containing structures on Agrobacterium in mating cultures

Exocellular structures containing VirB2 proteins were, for the first time, localized on the surface of Agrobacterium by transmission electron microscopy. Using colloidal gold (CG)-labeled VirB2-specific antibodies, it was shown that VirB2 proteins enter into the composition of short surface pili, which emerge at the poles of acetosyringone (AS)-inducedAgrobacterium cells. However, cells of the Ti plasmidless A. tumefaciens strain UBAPF-2 and cells not induced with AS were incapable of pilus synthesis. In suspension, mating Agrobacterium cells were connected together by short thick bridges. It was found that these bridges did not include as part of their structure CG-labeled VirB1 and VirB2 proteins. We did not find the tetracycline-resistant transconjugants after mating of A. tumefaciens donor cells harboring binary systems with plasmid-free A. tumefaciens GM-I9023 in vir-induced and vir-uninduced conditions. However, the same strains can transfer pSUP106 plasmid via a vir-dependent way. We found that activated vir genes slightly stimulate pTd33 plasmid transfer via a tra-dependent pathway to plasmid-free strain UBAPF-2. It seems, that vir-induced T-DNA/plasmid DNA transfer machinery is not essential for the conjugation process between agrobacterial cells but may participate in this process.