Table 3.
Bacterial strains and plasmids used in this study
| Strains/plasmids | Relevant genotype and property | Source/reference |
| S. epidermidis | ||
| 1457 | Wild-type strain | [38] |
| 1457 ΔluxS | luxS mutant (luxS- ermr) | [24] |
| E. coli | ||
| XL1 blue | recA1 endA1 gyrA96 thi-1 hsdR17 supE44 relA1 lac [F' proAB lacIqZΔM15 Tn10 (Tetr)] | Qiagen |
| SG13009 [pREP4] | K12 derivative, Nals Strs Rifs Thi- Lac- Ara- Gal+ Mtl- F- RecA+ Uvr+ Lon+ [pREP4 KanR] | Qiagen |
| BL21 | F-,ompT, hsdS(rB-, mB-), gal | Amersham |
| V. harveyi | ||
| BB170 | luxN::Tn5(sensor-1- sensor-2+), AI-2 reporter strain | ATCC BAA-1117 |
| Plasmids | ||
| pQE-9 | lacIq, 3.4 kb, Apr, T5, C-terminal 6 × His-tag | Qiagen |
| pQE-luxS | pQE-9 containing the luxS gene of S. epidermidis 1457 | this study |
| pGEX-4T-1 | lacIq, 4.9 bp, Apr, GST gene fusion vector | Amersham |
| pGEX-pfs | pGEX-4T-1 containing the pfs gene of S. epidermidis 1457 | this study |