Derek W. Wood,¹ Joao C. Setubal,²⁴ Rajinder Kaul,⁵ Dave E. Monks,¹ Joao P. Kitajima,²³ Vagner K. Okura,² Yang Zhou,⁵ Lishan Chen,^1* Gwendolyn E. Wood,¹ Nalvo F. Almeida Jr.,⁶ Lisa Woo,¹ Yuching Chen,¹ Ian T. Paulsen,⁷ Jonathan A. Eisen,⁷ Peter D. Karp,⁸ Donald Bovee Sr.,⁵ Peter Chapman,⁵ James Clendenning,⁵ Glenda Deatherage,⁵ Will Gillet,⁵ Charles Grant,⁵ Tatyana Kutyavin,⁵ Ruth Levy,⁵ Meng-Jin Li,⁵ Erin McClelland,⁵ Anthony Palmieri,⁵ Christopher Raymond,⁵ Gregory Rouse,⁵ Channakhone Saenphimmachak,⁵ Zaining Wu,⁵ Pedro Romero,⁸ David Gordon,⁹ Shiping Zhang,¹⁰ Heayun Yoo,¹⁰ Yumin Tao,¹¹ Phyllis Biddle,¹⁰ Mark Jung,¹⁰ William Krespan,¹⁰ Michael Perry,¹⁰ Bill Gordon-Kamm,¹¹ Li Liao,¹⁰ Sun Kim,¹⁰ Carol Hendrick,¹¹ Zuo-Yu Zhao,¹¹ Maureen Dolan,¹⁰ Forrest Chumley,¹⁰ Scott V. Tingey,¹⁰ Jean-Francois Tomb,¹⁰ Milton P. Gordon,¹² Maynard V. Olson,⁵ Eugene W. Nester^113§

The 5.67-megabase genome of the plant pathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 consists of a circular chromosome, a linear chromosome, and two plasmids. Extensive orthology and nucleotide colinearity between the genomes of A. tumefaciens and the plant symbiont Sinorhizobium meliloti suggest a recent evolutionary divergence. Their similarities include metabolic, transport, and regulatory systems that promote survival in the highly competitive rhizosphere; differences are apparent in their genome structure and virulence gene complement. Availability of the A. tumefaciens sequence will facilitate investigations into the molecular basis of pathogenesis and the evolutionary divergence of pathogenic and symbiotic lifestyles.

¹ Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Box 357242, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
² Bioinformatics Laboratory, Institute of Computing,
³ Center for Molecular Biology and Genetic Engineering (CBMEG), University of Campinas, CP 6176, Campinas SP 13083-970, Brazil.
⁴ Department of Genome Sciences, University of Washington, Box 357730, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
⁵ Genome Center, University of Washington, Fluke Hall on Mason Road, Box 352145, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
⁶ Department of Computing and Statistics, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, CP 549, Campo Grande MS 79070-900, Brazil.
⁷ The Institute for Genomic Research, 9712 Medical Center Drive, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
⁸ Bioinformatics Research Group, SRI International, 333 Ravenswood Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
⁹ Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Washington, Box 357730, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
¹⁰ E. I. du Pont de Nemours Company, 1 Innovation Way, Newark, DE 19714, USA.
¹¹ Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., 7300 NW 62nd Avenue, Post Office Box 1004, Johnston, IA 50131, USA.
¹² Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
¹³ Department of Botany, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Box 355325, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
^*   Present address: Department of Pathology, University of Washington, Box 357470, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.

   Present address: Gene Function & Target Validation, Celltech R&D Inc., Bothell, WA 98021, USA.

   Present address: Department of Plant Pathology, Kansas State University, 113 Waters Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA.

^§   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gnester{at}u.washington.edu