T-DNA Binary Vectors and Systems

Abstract

For more than two decades, scientists have used Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation to generate transgenic plants. Initial technologies to introduce genes of interest (goi) into Agrobacterium involved complex microbial genetic methodologies that inserted these goi into the transfer DNA (T-DNA) region of large tumor-inducing plasmids (Ti-plasmids). However, scientists eventually learned that T-DNA transfer could still be effected if the T-DNA region and the virulence (vir) genes required for T-DNA processing and transfer were split into two replicons. This binary system permitted facile manipulation of Agrobacterium and opened up the field of plant genetic engineering to numerous laboratories. In this review, we recount the history of development of T-DNA binary vector systems, and we describe important components of these systems. Some of these considerations were previously described in a review by Hellens et al. (2000b). Agrobacterium transfers T-DNA, which makes up a small (approximately 5%–10%) region of a resident Ti-plasmid or root-inducing plasmid (Ri-plasmid), to numerous species of plants (DeCleene and DeLey, 1976; Anderson and Moore, 1979), although the bacterium can be manipulated in the laboratory to transfer T-DNA to fungal (Bundock et al., 1995; Piers et al., 1996; de Groot et al., 1998; Abuodeh et al., 2000; Kelly and Kado, 2002; Li et al., 2007) and even animal cells (Kunik et al., 2001; Bulgakov et al., 2006). Transfer requires three major elements: (1) T-DNA border repeat sequences (25 bp) that flank the T-DNA in direct orientation and delineate the region that will be processed from the Ti/Ri-plasmid (Yadav et al., 1982); (2) vir genes located on the Ti/Ri-plasmid; and (3) various genes (chromosomal virulence [chv] and other genes) located on the bacterial chromosomes. These chromosomal genes generally are involved in bacterial exopolysaccharide synthesis, maturation, and secretion (e.g. Douglas et al., 1985; Cangelosi et al., 1987, 1989; Robertson et al., 1988; Matthysse, 1995; O'Connell and Handelsman, 1999). However, some chromosomal genes important for virulence likely mediate the bacterial response to the environment (Xu and Pan, 2000; Saenkham et al., 2007). Several recent reviews enumerate factors involved in and influencing Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (Gelvin, 2003; McCullen and Binns, 2006). The vir region consists of approximately 10 operons (depending upon the Ti- or Ri-plasmid) that serve four major functions. (1) Sensing plant phenolic compounds and transducing this signal to induce expression of vir genes (virA and virG). VirA and VirG compose a two-component system that responds to particular phenolic compounds produced by wounded plant cells (Stachel et al., 1986). Because wounding is important for efficient plant transformation, Agrobacterium can sense a wounded potential host by perceiving these phenolic compounds. Activation of VirA by these phenolic inducers initiates a phospho-relay, ultimately resulting in phosphorylation and activation of the VirG protein (Winans, 1991). Activated VirG binds to the vir box sequences preceding each vir gene operon, allowing increased expression of each of these operons (Pazour and Das, 1990). In addition to induction of the vir genes by phenolics, many sugars serve as co-inducers. These sugars are perceived by a protein, ChvE, encoded by a gene on the Agrobacterium chromosome. In the presence of these sugars, vir genes are more fully induced at lower phenolic concentrations (Peng et al., 1998). (2) Processing T-DNA from the parental Ti- or Ri-plasmid (virD1 and virD2). Together, VirD1 (a helicase) and VirD2 (an endonuclease) bind to and nick DNA at 25-bp directly repeated T-DNA border repeat sequences (Jayaswal et al., 1987; Wang et al., 1987). The VirD2 protein covalently links to the 5′ end of the processed single-strand DNA (the T-strand) and leads it out of the bacterium, into the plant cell, and to the plant nucleus (Ward and Barnes, 1988; Howard et al., 1992). (3) Secreting T-DNA and Vir proteins from the bacterium via a type IV secretion system (virB operon and virD4). The Agrobacterium virB operon contains 11 genes, most of which form a pore through the bacterial membrane for the transfer of Vir proteins (Christie et al., 2005). Currently, we know of five such proteins that are secreted through this apparatus: VirD2 (unattached or attached to the T-strand), VirD5, VirE2, VirE3, and VirF (Vergunst et al., 2000, 2005). VirD4 acts as a coupling factor to link VirD2-T-strand to the type IV secretion apparatus (Christie et al., 2005). (4) Participating in events within the host cell involving T-DNA cytoplasmic trafficking, nuclear targeting, and integration into the host genome (virD2, virD5, virE2, virE3, and virF). VirD2 and VirE2 may play roles in targeting the T-strand to the nucleus (Howard et al., 1992; Zupan et al., 1996). In addition, VirE2 likely protects T-strands from nucleolytic degradation in the p