FIGURE 2.

The O8 and O9a wbdC and wbdB genes are functionally exchangeable. The results show gene complementation experiments with CWG1008 (ΔwbdC^O8) (A and B), CWG1010 (ΔwbdC^O9a) (C and D), CWG1007 (wbdB^O8) (E and F), and CWG1009 (ΔwbdB^O9a) (G and H). The top panels in each pair show the silver-stained SDS-polyacrylamide gel of LPS samples from whole-cell lysates, and the bottom panels show the corresponding confirmatory Western immunoblots using O8- or O9a-specific antisera. In each case, native O-PS biosynthesis was restored by the introduction of plasmids carrying the relevant gene from either serotype O8 or O9a. The plasmids used were as follows: pWQ577 (malE-wbdC^O8), pWQ575 (malE-wbdC^O9a), pWQ578 (malE-wbdB^O8), and pWQ576 (malE-wbdB^O9a).