TABLE 1.

Bacterial strains and plasmids used in this work

Strain or plasmid	Relevant characteristics	Source or reference
Strains
A. vinelandii
AEIV	Wild type, mucoid	Svein Valla
AEA8	AEIV with a nonpolar mucA::Gm mutation	This work
AEA4	AEIV with a polar mucA::Gm mutation	This work
AEC2	AEIV with a nonpolar mucC::Tc mutation	This work
ATCC 9046	Highly mucoid due to the muc-1 spontaneous mutation	26
JRA8	ATCC 9046 with a nonpolar mucA::Gm mutation	This work
JRA4	ATCC 9046 with a polar mucA::Gm mutation	This work
MLC2	ATCC 9046 with a nonpolar mucC::Tc mutation	This work
MLC4	ATCC 9046 with a polar mucC::Tc mutation	This work
WI12	algD::lacZ derivative of ATCC 9046	6
WIA8	WI12 with a nonpolar mucA::Gm mutation	This work
WIA4	WI12 with a polar mucA::Gm mutation	This work
WIC2	WI12 with a nonpolar mucC::Tc mutation	This work
WIC4	WI12 with a polar mucC::Tc mutation	This work
E. coli
DH5α	supE44 ΔlacU169 hsdR17 recA1 endA1 gyrA96 thi-1 relA1	18
CAG16037	MC1061 λ(rpoH p3-lacZ)	29
CAG22216	CAG16037; rpoE::ΩCm	39
Plasmids
pBluescript SK(+)	Plasmid used for subcloning DNA	Stratagene
pMOSBlue	Plasmid used for subcloning PCR products	Amersham
pHP45Ω-Tc	Plasmid used to obtain the Tcr cassette	15
pBSL141	Plasmid used to obtain the Gmr cassette	1
pLRA	pMOSBlue derivative carrying a 1.3-kb DNA fragment containing A. vinelandii mucA gene amplified by PCR	This work
pLRA8	pLRA derivative containing mucA::Gm nonpolar mutation	This work
pLRA4	pLRA containing mutation mucA::Gm polar to mucBCD	This work
pLRC	pMOSBlue derivative carrying a 1.3-kb DNA fragment containing A. vinelandii mucC gene amplified by PCR	This work
pLRC2	pLRC derivative containing mucC::Tc nonpolar mutation	This work
pLRC4	pLRC derivative containing mutation mucC::Tc polar to mucD	This work
pJMSAT1	Plasmid containing A. vinelandii algU-mucA genes; Ap	34