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Attachment to Roots and Virulence of a chvB Mutant of Agrobacterium tumefaciens Are Temperature Sensitive

Agrobacterium tumefaciens chvB mutants are unable to produce β-1,2 glucan. They are nonattaching and avirulent and show reduced motility at room temperature. At lower temperatures (16°C), chvB mutants became virulent on Bryophyllum daigremontiana and Lycopersicon esculentum and were able to attach to L. esculentum, Arabidopsis thaliana, Daucus carota, and Tagetes erecta roots. The mutant bacteria also recovered wild-type motility at lower temperatures. Two other nonattaching mutants of A. tumefaciens, AttR and AtrA, were unaffected by the lowered temperature, remaining nonattaching and avirulent.