The virB gene products of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens tumor-inducing (Ti) plasmid have been proposed to mediate T-DNA transport through the bacterial cell wall into plant cells. Previous genetic analysis of the -9.5-kilobase-pair virB operon has been limited to transposon insertion mutagenesis. Due to the polarity of the transposon insertions, only the last gene in the operon, virBII, is known to provide an essential virulence function. We have now begun to assess the contribution of the other virB genes to virulence. First, several previously isolated Tn3-HoHol insertions in the 3' end of the virB operon were precisely mapped by nucleotide sequence analysis. Protein extracts from A. tumefaciens strains harboring these insertions on the Ti plasmid were subjected to immunostaining analysis with VirB4-, VirB10-, and VirBll-specific antisera to determine the effect of the insertion on virB gene expression. In this manner, avirulent mutants containing polar insertions in the virB9 and virB10 genes were identified. To carry out a complementation analysis with these virB mutants, expression vectors were constructed that allow cloned genes to be expressed from the virB promoter in A.tumefaciens. These plasmids were used to express combinations of the virB9, virB10, and virBIl genes in trans in the virB insertion mutants, thereby creating strains lacking only one of these three virB gene products. Virulence assays on Kalanchoe daigremontiana demonstrated that in addition to virBII, the virB9 and virB10 genes are required for tumorigenicity.Infection of susceptible plants by the phytopathogenic bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens results in crown gall tumors. The unique disease mechanism involves the transfer of a specific DNA molecule (the T-DNA) from a large bacterial tumor-inducing (Ti) plasmid into the plant cell genome (reviewed in references 3 and 58). Expression of T-DNA genes encoding plant growth hormones results in unregulated plant cell growth and subsequent tumor formation. The proteins which mediate most of the steps in T-DNA processing and mobilization are supplied in trans by a separate, nontransferred section of the Ti plasmid termed the virulence (vir) region. In octopine-type Ti plasmids, the vir region consists of a contiguous ==35-kilobase-pair (kbp) segment containing at least seven transcriptional loci. Mutations in these loci either completely abolish virulence (virA, -B, -D, and -G) or cause attenuated virulence (virC, -E, and -F) (26,27,40).Expression of the vir genes is inducible by phenolic compounds, such as acetosyringone, present in wounded plant tissue. A regulatory system consisting of VirA (a transmembrane sensor) and VirG (a transcriptional activator) regulate vir gene expression (24, 25,44). Following vir induction, the VirDl and VirD2 proteins provide topoisomerase (19) and endonuclease (42, 56) functions that initiate T-DNA processing by introducing a site-and strand-specific nick within conserved 25-bp cis-acting sequences, termed borders, that delineate the ends of the T-DNA molec...