Fig 4.

A ylmC mutant exhibits a slight competitive advantage under sporulation-inducing conditions. A wild-type reference strain carrying an IPTG-inducible lacZ gene (RL5360) was competed in DS medium against a ylmC mutant, starting with approximately 75% wild-type strain. The cultures were incubated at 37°C for 24 h, heat treated at 80°C, and diluted in fresh DS medium. After the indicated rounds of competition, dilutions of the culture were plated on agar plates containing IPTG and X-Gal, and blue (wild-type) and white (mutant) colonies were counted. The bars indicate the percentages of the wild-type reference strain. The wild-type strain was competed against a ylmC mutant and a complemented strain carrying a copy of ylmC at the ectopic amyE locus.