FIG. 3.

Disruption of cvfA results in altered patterns of virulence gene expression at stationary phase. The relative levels of the transcripts of virulence genes in the CvfA⁻ mutant (ΩCvfA strain) were determined over the course of growth in C medium using real-time RT-PCR and expressed as changes relative to the levels in the wild-type (WT) strain. Levels that were not determined are indicated by an asterisk. The growth pattern of S. pyogenes is shown in the graph in the inset, and the growth stage of each sampling time is shown as indicated. The samples were taken at exponential growth phase at 3 h postinoculation (hpi), early stationary phase at 6 hpi, and stationary phase at 8 hpi. For clarity, only the growth pattern of the wild-type strain is shown, as the growth characteristics of the two strains were indistinguishable under these conditions. Amt, amount.