FIG. 4.
Effect of MDP1 deficiency on growth kinetics and cell surface morphology. (A) Wild-type M. smegmatis mc2155, MDP1 KO, and complemented strains were cultured in LB broth, and bacterial numbers at various time points were determined and expressed as CFU after serially diluted samples on LB agar were harvested. Asterisk, P < 0.05 for a comparison with the wild-type strain (as determined by analysis of variance). The results are the results of one representative experiment of seven experiments in which similar results were obtained. (B to D) Visualization of cell surface structure of the wild-type (WT) (B), MDP1 KO (KO) (C), and complemented (Comp) (D) strains by SEM. Bars = 0.5 μm. Bacteria in both exponential (day 3 [D3]) and stationary (day 7 [D7]) phases were analyzed.