TABLE 1.

Oligonucleotide primers used in this study

Primer	Target gene	Sequence	Positionsa
16Suniv-1	16S rRNA	5′-CAGCAGCCGCGGTAATAC-3′	491-508
16S-r	16S rRNA	5′-CTACGCATTTCACTGCTACACG-3′	654-675
rho-f	rho	5′-CAAAACATTGCCCACGCCGTTACCG-3′	565-589
rho-r	rho	5′-CCACGGACGGAGCGGCTCATTTCGG-3′	650-674
siaD-f	siaD	5′-CGACTCATTTAATTGATGAAGG-3′	440-461
siaD-r	siaD	5′-CATGCAATATGTCAAAATGATC-3′	562-583
lipA-f	lipA	5′-CACATCAGTAAATACAACGTCGG-3′	1462-1484
lipA-r	lipA	5′-GATGCGGTTTGTAGATGATATAG-3′	1635-1657
mtrC-f	mtrC	5′-CAAAGTTTCCGAAGGTACGTTGC-3′	582-604
mtrC-r	mtrC	5′-CGCAATTTCATCACTTCGGATGC-3′	679-701
mtrD-f	mtrD	5′-GATTCTGGAGTTGGGCAACGGTTC-3′	1998-2021
mtrD-r	mtrD	5′-GCACGCATTTTCTGAATCAACTCG-3′	2088-2111
mtrE-f	mtrE	5′-CTGTATCAGATCGACAGTTCCAC-3′	298-320
mtrE-r	mtrE	5′-CAACCAAAGGCTTGTATCGCGCC-3′	399-421

^aPositions are relative to the ATG start codon for those genes that code for proteins.