Fig. 3.

Effects of the vvpS mutation on the viability of V. vulnificus. Cultures of the wild type and vvpS mutant harboring each plasmid, as indicated, were grown in LBS at 30°C, and samples were removed at the indicated times for enumeration of viable cells as CFU ml⁻¹ (A) and differential staining of viable (green) or dead (red) cells (B). A functional vvpS (pMS0746) was used for complementation of the vvpS mutant. The error bars represent the SEM. **, P < 0.005 relative to the wild type at the indicated time. The V. vulnificus cells were stained with the Live/Dead BacLight viability kit. Bars = 5 μm.