Growth kinetics of the V. vulnificus strains. Cultures of wild-type HG071, the nanA mutant HG072, or the complemented strain were grown in M9 medium supplemented with 5 mM glucose (A) or 5 mM Neu5Ac (B) as a sole carbon source. The data are the means from three independent experiments. WT, wild type; nanA (pJH0311), nanA mutant; nanA (pHG0704), complemented strain. Details are described in Materials and Methods.