Tj. Burr et al., SURVIVAL AND TUMORIGENICITY OF AGROBACTERIUM-VITIS IN LIVING AND DECAYING GRAPE ROOTS AND CANES IN SOIL, Plant disease, 79(7), 1995, pp. 677-682
Agrobacterium vitis was recovered from living and decaying grape roots
and canes 23 months after grapes were artificially inoculated with a
mixture of six strains of the bacterium. Each strain contained a uniqu
e plasmid profile. Following inoculation, some plants were treated wit
h the herbicide Roundup to speed up plant death and tissue decay. Root
s and canes were assayed over time, and by comparing plasmid profiles
of recovered strains it was determined that certain A. vitis strains u
sed in the inoculum mixture were recovered more frequently than others
. Profiles identical to those identified for each strain used in the i
noculum mixture were observed at least twice in strains recovered duri
ng the experiment. Of 133 plasmid profiles that were observed only 18
did not resemble any of the strains used in the inoculum mixture. Of 3
33 strains recovered from roots and canes, 321 were tumorigenic, indic
ating that this trait was stable throughout the experiment. A group of
six strains having plasmid profiles identical to strain CG49 that wer
e recovered over an 16-month period were further characterized using r
estriction fragment length polymorphic analysis of plasmid DNA, random
amplified polymorphic DNA analysis of total genomic DNA, and ribofing
erprinting of a chromosomal region including 1,479 bp (99.5%) of the 1
65 rDNA, the intergenic spacer between 16S and 23S rDNA genes, and 132
bp of the 235 rDNA gene. All six strains were shown to be identical t
o CG49.