TABLE 4.

Effects of vie gene deletions on in vitro growth and colonization of infant mice

Strain	Genotype	Ratio of mutant to wild typea
		In vitro competitionb	In vivo competitionc
AC-V323	ΔvieB	1.3	1.1
AC-V279	ΔvieAB	1.0	1.0
AC-V282	ΔvieSAB	1.0	1.1

^aRatio of test strain to virulent strain corrected for deviations in inoculum ratio from a value of 1:1. 

^bCultures were grown in LB broth at 37°C for 24 h. 

^cBacteria were recovered from the small intestines of infant CD-1 mice after 24 h. Each ratio represents the mean for eight animals.