Fig. 7: The effect of prfaH and phns on the host bacterial fitness and population dynamics.

a Relative fitness of BW25113 harboring pHNYX644∆phns::kan, pHNYX644∆prfaH::kan, pHNYX644∆prfaH∆phns::kan, and pHNYX644∆prfaH∆phns::kan-pHSG575-prfaH. These strains were competed with the reference strain BW25113/pHNYX644 in vitro separately. All competition assays were carried out with three biological replicates, and the relative fitness of each strain was detected at 24, 48, 72, and 96 h. b Co-cultures with BW25113 and BW25113/pHNYX644 in LB broth. c Co-cultures with BW25113 and BW25113/pHNYX644 in M9 medium. d Co-cultures with BW25113 and BW25113/pHNYX644∆phns::kan in LB broth. e Co-cultures with BW25113 and BW25113/pHNYX644∆phns::kan in M9 medium. f Co-cultures with BW25113, BW25113/pHNYX644, and BW25113/pHNYX644∆phns::kan in LB broth. g Co-cultures with BW25113, BW25113/pHNYX644, and BW25113/pHNYX644∆phns::kan in M9 medium. Plasmid-containing strains were mixed with a 10-fold excess of plasmids-free BW25113 at the beginning of the invasion assay. Bars represent SD of n = 3 biological replicates.