Attraction of Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58C1 towards Sugars Involves a Highly Sensitive Chemotaxis System

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Abstract
Motility of Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58C1 consisted of long straight runs, with relatively few tumbles. Speeds of up to 60 pm s-l and runs of up to 500 pm were recorded. The propulsive mechanism appeared to resemble that of Rhizobium. Chemotaxis towards carbohydrates resolved four groups of sugars: chemoattractants with peaks at M (sucrose, glucose and fructose); 1 0-5 M (maltose, lactulose and galactose); M (raffinose, stachyose and arabinose) ; and weak or non-attractants (palatinose, lactose, cellobiose and xylose). In descending order, the magnitude of the responses was as follows: sucrose 9 maltose > lactulose > glucose > galactose/fructose > stachyose/arabinose/raffinose. The amino acids valine and arginine were good chemoattractants with peaks at M, but no significant attraction was observed with alanine, cysteine, methionine or glycine. These results are indicative of a highly sensitive chemotaxis system towards sugars in A. tumefaciens C58C1, and suggest a role for this process in the ecology of the organism.
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