CHARACTERIZATION OF THE AGROBACTERIUM-TUMEFACIENS HEAT-SHOCK RESPONSE - EVIDENCE FOR A SIGMA-32-LIKE SIGMA-FACTOR

We have characterized the heat shock response of Agrobacterium tumefaciens and compared it with the well-characterized Escherichia coli heat shock response. Four major heat shock proteins with apparent molecular masses of 98, 75, 65, and 20 kDa were identified by pulse-labelling cultures after temperature upshift. The three largest proteins comigrated with proteins that were antigenically related to the E. coli heat shock proteins sigma(70), DnaK, and GroEL, respectively. The heat shock proteins were also strongly induced by ethanol and cadmium chloride and were mildly induced by mitomycin C. To determine whether the A. tumefaciens. The E. coli DnaK protein was expressed in A. tumefaciens, and its synthesis was induced after heat shock. Primer extension analysis of the E. coli dnaK gene in A. tumefaciens indicated that transcription initiated from one or possibly both of the E. coli heat shock promoters. We conclude that A. tumefaciens has a heat shock response similar to that of E. coli, in that (i) similar proteins are induced by heat shock, (ii) synthesis of these proteins is induced in response to similar stimuli, and (iii) A. tumefaciens can recognize an E. coli heat shock promoter, suggesting that A. tumefaciens has a sigma-factor similar to sigma(32).