Table 1. Strains, plasmids, and primers used in this study.

	Description	Source
Strains
K. pneumoniae
CG43	Wild type bacteremia isolates	[58]
CG43S	CG43 Smr	[25]
Δ hfq	CG43S Δhfq::Cmr	This study
Δ hfq -C1	Δhfq complemented with pYC343	This study
Δ hfq -C2	Δhfq complemented with pYC457	This study
Δ rpoS	CG43S ΔrpoS	C.T. Lin
Δ rpoE	CG43S ΔrpoE::Tcr	This study
E. coli
S17-1λ pir	hsdR recA pro RP4-2 (Tc::Mu; Kan::Tn7)	[52]
TOP10	F− mcrA Δ(mrr-hsdRMS-mcrBC) lacZΔM15 rpsL (Smr) endA1	Invitrogen
Plasmids
pKAS46	Homologous recombination vector, rpsL couterselection	[52]
pBAD-202	Arabinose-inducible TOPO expression vector	Invitrogen
pACYC184	Low-copy-no. vector containing Apr and Kanr cassettes	New England Biolabs
pYC324	2.4-kb fragment containing a 309-bp deletion in hfq locus cloned into pKAS46	This study
pYC343	hfq coding region cloned from CG43 into pBAD-202	This study
pYC351	rpoS coding region cloned from CG43 into pBAD-202	This study
pYC413	rpoE coding region cloned from CG43 into pBAD-202	This study
pYC457	Full length hfq with native promoter ligated into pACYC184 backbone	This study
pYC445	2.4-kb fragment containing a 609-bp deletion in rpoE locus cloned into pKAS46	This study
Primers		This study
p239	TgCTCTAgATTCCTgAACTgATAggCT	This study
p240	CggggTACCTgTACACgTTCAgTTCTgg	This study
p241	CggggTACCTgTCTCACCACAgCAACA	This study
p242	gCCgAgCTCTTTCATCgTCgCgATCgA	This study
P403	ggCgAATTCCgCTgTTAgTC	This study
p284	CACCATggCTAAggggCAATCT	This study
p285	TTCggCgTCgTCgCTgTC	This study
p251	TAgCTATAgTTCTAgAgCTTCATTTCATggTCgA	This study
p252	CgCCAgCTgCAggCggCCgCCTgCATTATgAgCAAgCTg	This study
p253	AggATgCATATggCggCCgCTgACgATAgCggAATACTg	This study
p254	TgTggAATTCCCgggAgAgCTCTgACgTTATCgCCAACg	This study
p903	CACCATgAgCgAgCAgTTAACg	This study
p904	ACgCCTgATAAgCggTTg	This study
p909	CACCATgAgTCAgAATACgCTg	This study
p910	TTCgCggAAgAgCgCTTC	This study