TABLE 1.
Analysis of exosporium filament length in parental strains and in complemented deletion mutants
| Strain | Plasmid content or bclA genotype | Ceb-Bams13 marker allele (reference) | Exosporium filament length (nm)a |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7702 | pXO1+ | 10 (15) | 60.84 ± 5.88 (81) |
| 7702b | pXO1+ | 10 (15) | 52.16 ± 5.83 (50) |
| 8189b | pXO1+, pXO2+ | 9 (15) | 47.29 ± 4.77 (70) |
| 53169b | pXO1+, pXO2+ | 7 (15) | 48.73 ± 2.62 (34) |
| 9602R | pXO1+ | 5 (15) | 29.20 ± 3.00 (52) |
| A2R | pXO1+ | 5 (15) | 27.69 ± 2.15 (45) |
| 6183R | pXO1+ | 5 (this work) | 28.14 ± 3.25 (57) |
| 6602 | pXO2+ | 4 (15) | 29.79 ± 3.71 (47) |
| RA3R | pXO1+ | 4 (this work) | 23.69 ± 2.67 (52) |
| 7611R | pXO1+ | 4 (this work) | 25.95 ± 4.11 (41) |
| 5725R | pXO1+ | 3 (15) | 25.12 ± 2.68 (75) |
| 4229 | pXO2+ | 1 (15) | 13.99 ± 3.18 (58) |
| PF31 | 7702 ΔbclA eag::bclA7702 | 61.30 ± 5.41 (51) | |
| PF34 | 7702 ΔbclA eag::bclA9602 | 25.76 ± 3.69 (45) | |
| PF32 | 9602R ΔbclA eag::bclA7702 | 60.23 ± 4.30 (52) | |
| PF33 | 9602R ΔbclA eag::bclA9602 | 24.85 ± 3.04 (30) | |
| PF35 | RA3R ΔbclA eag::bclA7702 | 59.76 ± 3.97 (60) | |
| PF36 | RA3R ΔbclA eag::bclA9602 | 24.09 ± 3.85 (54) | |
| PF37 | 7611R ΔbclA eag::bclA7702 | 59.09 ± 3.94 (44) | |
| PF38 | 7611R ΔbclA eag::bclA9602 | 25.41 ± 3.03 (30) |
a
Results are expressed in nanometers as means ± standard deviations with the number of measurements in parentheses.
b
Virulent spores were fixed in 4% formaldehyde before negative staining. When strain 7702 was analyzed under the same conditions, the filament length was reduced by about 14.3%.