Plasmid profiles of L. lactis subsp. cremoris Ropy352 and its spontaneous nonropy mutants. Lane A, supercoiled plasmid ladder (16,210, 14,174, 12,138, 10,102, 8,066, 7,045, 6,030, 5,012, 3,990, 2,972, and 2,067 bp). Lanes B, C, and D, spontaneous nonropy mutants L. lactis subsp. cremoris EK316, EK317, and EK318, respectively. Lane E, wild-type L. lactis subsp. cremoris Ropy352. The arrow indicates the plasmid absent from the nonropy mutants.