Octopine and nopaline synthesis and breakdown genetically controlled by a plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Several nopaline degrading strains and one octopine degrading strain are shown to loose oncogenicity as well as the ability to utilize these guanidine compounds when they are cured of their TI plasmid. To investigate whether the specific genes involved in the utilization of one or the other compound are located on the plasmid, plasmid-transfer experiments have been performed. The plasmid from a nopaline degrading strain has been transferred to a naturally non oncogenic Agrobacterium namely A. radiobacter. Furthermore, the plasmid from an octopine degrading strain has been transferred to a plasmid-cured strain which originally had the capacity to utilize nopaline. Both kinds of experiments prove that the TI plasmid determines the strain specificity with regard to the utilization of either octopine or nopaline. They also demonstrate that the synthesis of either octopine or nopaline in crown gall cells is also determined by genes located on the TI plasmid harboured by the transforming A. tumefaciens strains.