Table 2. Bacterial strains and plasmids used in this study.

Strain or plasmid	Relevant characteristics	Source or reference
DH5α	Cloning host	Laboratory collection
SPY372λpir	Host for replication of suicide vector pGMB151	From Prof. Huang X. [40]
strain 201	Y. pestis biovar. microtus	[23]
ΔrovA	strain 201, ΔrovA(41–139aa)	This study
ΔrovA-pAraRovA	the ΔrovA containing pAraRovA, Apr	This study
pRW50	Low-copy-number lac exprssion reporter vector, Tetr	From Prof. Green J. [45]
pBAD24	araBADp cloning vector, Apr	Laboratory collection
pAraRovA	pBAD24 containing rovA gene at EcoRI and SmaI	This study
pGMB151	suicide vector; SacB1 R6K origin; Smr	From Prof. Huang X.[40]
pGMB-delrovA	pGMB151 containing ∼700-bp sequences up- and downstream of the rovA gene	This study
pyscN	538-bp yscN promoter inserted at EcoRI-HindIII sites, Tetr	This study
pyscA	496-bp yscA promoter inserted at EcoRI-HindIII sites, Tetr	This study
plcrG	513-bp lcrG promoter inserted at EcoRI-BamHI sites, Tetr	This study
pyopN	567-bp yopN promoter inserted at EcoRI-HindIII sites, Tetr	This study
pyopT	772-bp yopT promoter inserted at EcoRI-HindIII sites, Tetr	This study
pyopQ	578-bp yopQ promoter inserted at EcoRI-HindIII sites, Tetr	This study
pyopJ	502-bp yopJ promoter inserted at EcoRI-HindIII sites, Tetr	This study
ppsaA	538-bp yscA promoter inserted at EcoRI-HindIII sites, Tetr	This study
pompC	509-bp ompC promoter inserted at EcoRI-HindIII sites, Tetr	This study