Deletion analysis of the mannopine synthase gene promoter in sunflower crown gall tumors and Agrobacterium tumefaciens

We have used deletion mutagenesis to analyze a TR-DNA promoter from the octopine-type Ti plasmid pTiB6806. The promoter for the gene encoding mannopine synthase (mas) was cloned upstream of the bacterial kanamycin-resistance gene neomycin phosphotransferase II (NPT II). Bal31 deletion mutagenesis was used to generate deletion derivatives of the mas/NPTII gene beginning 1353 bp upstream of the initiation of transcription and extending to 120 bp downstream from the mRNA start site. Deletions that left intact 318 bp upstream of transcription initiation had no detectable effect on the ability of tumors harboring the deletion to synthesize correctly initiated mRNA or to grow on the kanamycin analogue G418. Deletion to-138 destroyed the ability of sunflower crown gall tumors to grow on G418 although low levels of the mas/NPTII transcript were detected in one tumor line. Deletions that left only 57 bp upstream of transcription initiation allowed neither growth on G418 nor detectable mas/NPTII synthesis, even though the CCAAT and TATAA homologies were intact. The mas promoter is functional in Agrobacterium tumefaciens and we present data concerning the effects of the Bal31 deletions on the growth of A. tumefaciens on kanamycin.