FIG. 3.

Effect of the ive gene mutation on the cytotoxicity of V. vulnificus. Bacterial cells were incubated with HeLa cells at an MOI of 100 for 90 min. The bars represent the mean percent release of LDH from four wells. WT stands for V. vulnificus WT MO6-24/O and CMCP6. The strains from CMM1701 to CMM1712 represent mutants of each ive genes identified in the present study (see Tables 1 and 3). Only the of pyrH, purH, and hlyU mutants showed a statistically significant decrease in cytotoxicity. An asterisk indicates statistical significance (P < 0.001) as determined by using the Student t test.