Engineering Agrobacterium tumefaciens with a Type III Secretion System to Express Type III Effectors

Abstract

Plants elicit defense responses when exposed to pathogens, which partly contribute to the resistance of plants to Agrobacterium tumefaciens–mediated transformation. Some pathogenic bacteria have sophisticated mechanisms to counteract these defense responses by injecting Type III effectors (T3Es) through the Type III secretion system (T3SS). By engineering A. tumefaciens to express T3SS to deliver T3Es, we suppressed plant defense and enhanced plant genetic transformation. Here, we describe the optimized protocols for mobilization of T3SS-expressing plasmid to engineer A. tumefaciens to deliver proteins through T3SS and fractionation of cultures to study proteins from pellet and supernatants to determine protein secretion from engineered A. tumefaciens.