FIG. 4.

Half-lives of mRNA species of V. parahaemolyticus Vp5 in ASW at 4°C. The table summarizes the half-lives calculated for mRNA for eight genes, i.e., rpoS, fur, pvsA, pvuA, tdh2, escU, vopP, and spa24. Sample graphs representing the quantities of mRNA for a housekeeping gene (rpoS; panel A) and a virulence gene (tdh2; panel B) are shown. ♦, MS2 RNA was used as an internal control for detecting potential inhibitors of quantitative RT-PCR in RNA samples. •, mRNA copies were quantified on days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 after a rifampin treatment which blocked the transcriptional activity in the clinical strain V. parahaemolyticus Vp5. The data are expressed as the means ± standard deviations (SD) of results from experiments performed with three replicate samples.