Skip to main content
Log in

Rapid Identification of Agrobacterium Species By Staircase Electrophoresis of Low Molecular Weight RNA Profiles

  • Published:
European Journal of Plant Pathology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Several plant species are infected by different species of the genus Agrobacterium. One problem is that no rapid and sensitive method is available for the identification of isolates of Agrobacterium at the species level. The usefulness of LMW RNA profiles for the identification of Agrobacterium species was examined. The profiles of strains belonging to the proposed species were identical to those of the type strain of each species except in two cases. In A. radiobacter, two groups of strains with different tRNA profiles were detected and in A. rhizogenes two groups with different 5S rRNA zones were found. Nevertheless, with the LMW RNA profiles it was possible to assign any isolate to one of each group within these species. The results obtained showed that all isolates studied here can be assigned to a species of Agrobacterium and hence that LMW RNA profiles offer a suitable method for the identification of tumor-inducing bacteria.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology (1994). Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore

  • Bergersen FJ (1961) The growth of Rhizobium in synthetic media. Australian Journal of Biology 14: 349–360

    Google Scholar 

  • Bidle KD and Fletcher M (1995) Comparison of free-living and particle-associated bacterial communities in the Chesapeake Bay by stable low-molecular-weight RNA analysis. Applied Environmental Microbiology 61: 944–952

    Google Scholar 

  • Bouzar H, Chilton WS, Nesme X, Dessaux Y, Vaudequin V, Petit A, Jones JB and Hodge NC (1995) A new Agrobacterium strain isolated from aerial tumours on Ficus benjamina L. Applied Environmental Microbiology 61: 65–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Bouzar H and Jones JB (2001) Agrobacterium larrymoorei sp. nov. a pathogen isolated from aerial tumours of Ficus benjamina. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 51: 1023–1026

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cruz-Sánchez JM, Velázquez E, Mateos P and Martínez-Molina E (1997) Enhancement of resolution of low molecular weight RNA profiles by staircase electrophoresis. Electrophoresis 18: 1909–1911

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Lajudie P, Laurent-Fullele E, Willems A, Torck U, Coopman R, Collins CD, Kersters K, Dreyfus B and Gillis M (1998) Allorhizobium undicola gen. nov., sp. nov., nitrogen-fixing bacteria that efficiently nodulate Neptunia natans in Senegal. International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology 48: 1277–1290

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • de Lajudie P, Willems A, Nick G, Mohamed SH, Torck U, Coopman R, Filali-Maltouf A, Kersters, K, Dreyfus B, Lindström K and Gillis M (1999) Agrobacterium bv. 1 strains isolated from nodules of tropical legumes. Systematic and Applied Microbiology 22: 119–132

    Google Scholar 

  • Haas H, Budowle B and Weiler G (1994) Horizontal polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis for the separation of DNA fragments. Electrophoresis 15: 153–158

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Höfle MG (1988) Identification of bacteria by low molecular weight RNA profiles: a new chemotaxonomic approach. Journal of Microbiological Methods 8: 235–248

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kersters K and de Ley J (1984) Genus III. Agrobacterium. In: Krieg NR and Holt JG (eds) Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, Vol 1 (pp 244–254) Williams and Wilkins Co, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Ophel K and Kerr A (1990) Agrobacterium vitis sp. nov. for strains of Agrobacterium biovar 3 from grapevines. International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology 40: 236–241

    Google Scholar 

  • Palomo JL, Velázquez E, Mateos PF, García-Benavides P and Martínez-Molina E (2000) Rapid identification of Clavibacter michiganensis subspecies sepedonicus based on the stable low molecular weight RNA (LMW RNA) profiles. European Journal of Plant Pathology 106: 789–793

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paulawska J, Maes M, Willems A and Sobiczewski P (2000) Phylogenetic analysis of 23S rRNA gene sequences of Agrobacterium, Rhizobium and Sinorhizobium strains. Systematic and Applied Microbiology 23: 238–244

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Plazinski J, Chen YH and Rolfe BG (1985) General method for the identification of plasmid species in fast-growing soil microorganisms. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 48: 1001–1003

    Google Scholar 

  • Rüger HJ and Höfle M (1992) Marine star-shaped-aggregateforming bacteria: Agrobacterium atlanticum sp. nov., Agrobacterium meteori sp. nov., Agrobacterium ferrugineum sp. nov., nom. rev., Agrobacterium gelatinovorum sp. nov. nom. rev.; and A. stellulatum sp. nov. nom. rev. International Journal of Systematic Bacteriology 42: 133–143

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ridé M, Ridé S, Petit A, Bollet C, Dessaux Y and Gardan L (2000) Characterization of plasmid-borne and chromosomeencoded traits of Agrobacterium biovar 1, 2 and 3 strains from France. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 66: 1818–1825

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sawada H, Ieki H, Oyaizu H and Matsumoto S (1993) Proposal for rejection of Agrobacterium tumefaciens and revised descriptions for the genus Agrobacterium and for Agrobacterium radiobacter and Agrobacterium rhizogenes. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 43: 694–702

    Google Scholar 

  • Sprinzl M, Moll J, Meissner F and Hatmann T(1985) Compilation of tRNA sequences. Nucleic Acid Research 13: 1–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Toro N and Olivares J (1986) Characterization of a large plasmid of Rhizobium meliloti involved in enhancing nodulation. Molecular General Genetics 202: 331–335

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Velázquez E, Cervantes E, Igual JM, Peix A, Mateos PF, Benamar S, Moiroud A, Wheeler CT, Dawson JO, Labeda D, Rodríguez-Barrueco C and Martínez-Molina E (1998a) Analysis of LMW RNA profiles of Frankia strains by staircase electrophoresis. Systematic and Applied Microbiology 21: 539–545

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Velázquez E, Cruz-Sánchez JM, Mateos PF and Martínez-Molina E (1998b) Analysis of stable Low Molecular Weight RNA Profiles of members of the family Rhizobiaceae. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 64: 1555–1559

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Velázquez E, Calvo O, Cervantes E, Mateos PF, Tamame M and Martínez-Molina E (2000a) Staircase electrophoresis profiles of stable low-molecular-weight RNA — a new technique for yeast fingerprinting. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 50: 917–923

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Velázquez E, Igual JM, Willems A, Fernández MP, Muñoz E, Mateos PF, Abril A, Toro N, Normand P, Cervantes E, Gillis M and Martínez-Molina E (2001a) Description of Mesorhizobium chacoense sp. nov. that nodulates prosopis alba in the Chaco Arido region (Argentina). International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 51: 1011–1021

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Velázquez E, Martínez-Romero E, Rodríguez-Navarro DN, Trujillo ME, Daza A, Mateos PF, Martínez-Molina E and van Berkum P (2001b) Characterization of rhizobial isolates of Phaseolus vulgaris by Staircase Electrophoresis of Low Molecular Weight RNA. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 67: 1008–1010

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Young JM, Kuykendall LD, Martínez-Romero E, Kerr A and Sawada H (2001) A revision of Rhizobium Frank 1889, with an emended description of the genus, and the inclusion of all species of Agrobacterium Conn 1942 and Allorhizobium undicola de Lajudie et al., 1998 as new combinations: Rhizobium radiobacter, R. rhizogenes, R. rubi, R. undicola and R. vitis. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 51: 89–103

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Velázquez, E., Luis Palomo, J., Lastra, B. et al. Rapid Identification of Agrobacterium Species By Staircase Electrophoresis of Low Molecular Weight RNA Profiles. European Journal of Plant Pathology 107, 931–938 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013140709873

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013140709873

Navigation