Studies on Agrobacterium tumefaciens. VIII. Avirulence induced by temperature and ethidium bromide

When tumorigenic strains of Agrobacterium tumefaciens were subcultured at temperatures between 31.5 and 37 degrees C or in broth containing ethidium bromide, they lost their capacity to induce tumors in tomato plants. The sensitivities of curing virulence (tumorigenicity) depended on the density of the population of cells, fewer cells (100/ml) being more sensitive to curing than higher densities (10(6)/ml). The loss of virulence need not require the total loss of the virulence-specifying plasmid, but may result from a loss of a small segment of that plasmid. Virulent strains made avirulent by temperature or ethidium bromide treatment still harbor a large plasmid of 70-80 megadaltons size compared with the 100- to 120-megadalton plasmid in the untreated strains.