Influence of transgenic T4-lysozyme-producing potato plants on potentially beneficial plant-associated bacteria

Pathogenic and Beneficial Plant-associated Bacteria

Effects of T4 lysozyme release from transgenic potato roots on bacterial rhizosphere communities are negligible relative to natural factors.

Rhizosphere bacterial communities of two transgenic potato lines which produce T4 lysozyme for protection against bacterial infections were analyzed in comparison to communities of wild-type plants and transgenic controls not harboring the lysozyme gene. Rhizosphere samples were taken from young, flowering, and senescent plants at two field sites in three consecutive years. The communities were...

Isolation and characterization of the bacteriophage T4 tail-associated lysozyme.

Direct evidence has been obtained that the tail-associated lysozyme of bacteriophage T4 (tail-lysozyme) is gp5, which is a protein component of the hub of the baseplate. Tails were treated with 3 M guanidine hydrochloride containing 1% Triton X-100, and the tail-lysozyme was separated from other tail components by preparative isoelectric focusing electrophoresis as a peak with a pI of 8.4. The ...

Purification of Bacteriophage T4 Lysozyme*

The lysozyme of bacteriophage T4 was purified to apparent homogeneity from lysates of the phage grown on Escherichia coli. The enzyme is a single polypeptide chain of molecular weight 19,000, with a single NH&erminal methionine residue and a single COOH-terminal leuciue residue. The amino acid composition of the protein was determined. The phage lysozyme exhibits a much greater specific activit...

Fructan as a New Carbohydrate Sink in Transgenic Potato Plants.

Fructans are polyfructose molecules that function as nonstructural storage carbohydrates in several plant species that are important crops. We have been studying plants for their ability to synthesize and degrade fructans to determine if this ability is advantageous. We have also been analyzing the ability to synthesize fructan in relation to other nonstructural carbohydrate storage forms like ...