Table 1.

Strains and plasmids used in this work

Strains	Relevant genotype	Reference/source
E. coli
BL21(DE3)	hsdS gal (λcIts 857 ind1 Sam7 nin5 lacUV5-T7 gene 1).	Invitrogen
ET8000	rbs lacZ::IS1 gyrA hutCc k (wild-type).	[42]
H. seropedicae
SmR1	Wild-type, Nif+, SmR.	[43]
Plasmids
pET-28a	Expression vector, T7 promoter, KmR.	Novagen
pDK6	Expression vector tac promoter lacIq, KmR.	[44]
pKADO3	H. seropedicae SmR1 phbF cloned into pET-28a; expresses the His-tag PhbF protein.	This work
pKADO5	353 bp containing phbF promoter region cloned into pMP220 resulting in the phbF:: lacZ transcriptional fusion.	This work.
pMMS31	Derivative of pDK6 encoding PhbF from H. seropedicae SmR1.	This work.
pMMS35	381 bp containing phaP1 promoter region cloned into pMP220 resulting in the phbP1:: lacZ transcriptional fusion.	This work.
pMP220	Vector used to construct transcriptional lacZ fusions; TcR.	[32]