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Chromatin structure of integrated T-DNA in crown gall tumors

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Summary

We have investigated the chromatin structure of the integrated T-DNA in two N. tabacum crown gall tumor lines, and compared the results to those obtained in a previous study of the methylation patterns of these same integrated DNA sequences (Gelvin et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 11:159–174, 1983). The E9 octopine-type tumor contains a single copy of TL, whose transcription is essential for tumor maintenance, and 15–30 copies of TR, a non-essential region. The HT37#15 nopaline type teratoma contains a single copy of the nopaline T-DNA. All these integrated sequences can be found associated with nucleosomes, although the diffuse nature of the nucleosome bands on Southern transfers implies an ‘open’ chromatin conformation. In addition, all the sequences are more sensitive to digestion with deoxyribonuclease I than the bulk of the chromatin. We present evidence suggesting that, despite the previously published data that the majority of copies of the TR-DNA are highly methylated at the sequence CCGG whereas the TL-DNA is not, the majority of copies of the TR-DNA in the E9 tumor line are in the same chromatin conformation as TL. These data therefore suggest that most of the copies of TR-DNA are likely to be transcriptionally competent.

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Author notes

  1. David Coates

    Present address: Genetics Laboratory, Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, OX1 3QU, Oxford, UK

  2. Earl W. Taliercio

    Present address: Dept. Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A & M University, 77843, College Station, TX, U.S.A.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Purdue University, Lilly Hall of Life Sciences, 47907, West Lafayette, IN, U.S.A.

    David Coates, Earl W. Taliercio & Stanton B. Gelvin

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  1. David Coates
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  2. Earl W. Taliercio
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  3. Stanton B. Gelvin
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Coates, D., Taliercio, E.W. & Gelvin, S.B. Chromatin structure of integrated T-DNA in crown gall tumors. Plant Mol Biol 8, 159–168 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00025327

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00025327

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