Figure 3. The average growth of E. coli containing various AlaAT and GGAT enzymes.

TR61 E. coli were cultured in a M63 revised minimal medium and expression of AlaAT or GGAT was induced by the addition of arabinose. The average optical density at 600 nm was measured and recorded over a 26 hour time period and is representative of trials done in triplicate. Error bars show standard error, where they exceed symbol size. TR61 cells containing no pBAD vector, cells containing a pBAD vector with no AlaAT or GGAT insert and uninduced TR61 cells containing a pBAD::HvAlaAT enzyme were utilized as controls. E. coli expressing AtAlaAT2, MtAlaAT, ScAlaAT and MmAlaAT showed changes in optical density over the 26 hour time period similar to that seen by Arabidopsis thaliana AlaAT1 expressing cells.