FIG 5.

YlxM confers a competitive advantage to S. mutans. Wild-type and SRP mutant strains were mixed at a 1:1 ratio and grown to stationary phase before being plated onto THYE agar. The experiments were performed in triplicate, and the data are reported as the percentage of total colonies of each strain recovered. Significant differences between the recovery of the wild type and that of the SRP mutant strains were detected as follows: for the Δffh strain, P was <0.01; for the ΔylxM strain, P was <0.01; for the ΔftsY strain, P was <0.01; and for the ΔscRNA gene strain, P was equal to 0.02. There was no significant difference in wild-type values compared to +YlxM values (P = 0.34).