Fig 1.

Mutations in non-essential genes affect the regulation of the lukAB promoter. (A) A luminescence screen was conducted on a JE2 transposon library containing a reporter plasmid where the lukAB promoter (PlukAB) was fused to the luciferase gene. The library is composed of 250 mutants with mutations in non-essential genes that may have regulatory roles. The promoter activity was measured by the luminescence of the JE2 transposon library in RPMI + HEPES + 5% normal human serum (NHS) with hPMNs after 3 hours of infection. Created with BioRender.com. (B) Results show potential activators of PlukAB, which have an average luminescence less than wild-type JE2 (n = 4 donors; six independent colonies for controls) at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 8. Mutant strains shown have a minimum of a 1.75-fold difference compared to wild-type JE2. Error bars indicate the standard error of the mean (SEM). (C) Results show potential repressors of PlukAB, which have an average luminescence greater than wild-type JE2 (n = 4 donors; six independent colonies for controls, MOI = 8). Mutant strains shown have a minimum of a 1.75-fold difference compared to wild-type JE2. Error bars indicate SEM.