Table 1. Bacterial strains and plasmids used in this study.

Strains	Genotype or description	Source or reference
F. novicida
U112	Wild-type F. tularensis subsp. novicida strain U112	[56]
U112 Δhfq	U112 Δhfq, EmR	This study
U112 Tnhfq1	U112 hfq :: EZ-Tn5 <KAN-2> at ORF position 229 of 327 bp	[37]
U112 Tnhfq2	U112 hfq :: EZ-Tn5 <KAN-2> at ORF position 133 of 327 bp	[37]
E. coli
MC4100	araD139 Δ(argF-lac)205 flb-5301 pstF25 rpsL150 deoC1 relA1	[24]
GS081	MC4100 hfq-1 :: Ω(CmR)	[24]
Plasmids
pKK214gfp	Low-copy-number expression vector with groEL promoter of F. tularensis LVS, Δcat::gfp	[30]
pKK214hfq	hfq ORF and 191 bp-upstream region inserted into pKK214gfp	This study
pACYC177	Low-copy-number cloning vector, AmpR, KmR	New England Biolabs
pACYCMchfq	MC4100 hfq ORF and 163 bp upstream region inserted into pACYC177	This study
pACYCFnhfq	U112 hfq ORF and MC4100 hfq promoter region region inserted into pACYC177	This study
pIDN4	Source of erythromycin gene cassette	[29]
pMAL-c4X	Vector for protein purification containing maltose binding protein	New England Biolabs