Table 1. Bacterial strains and plasmids.

	Relevant genotype or phenotype	Source
Strains
XL1-Blue	F−::Tn10 proA+B+ lacIq Δ (lacZ) M15/recA1 endA1 gyrA96 (Nalr) thi hsdR17 (rK −mK +) glnV44 relA1 lac	Stratagene
BL21(λDE3)	E. coli B ompT hsdS(rB −mB −) gal dcm (DE3)	Novagen
BW25113	F−, Δ (araD-araB)567, ΔlacZ4787(::rrnB−3), λ−, rph−1, Δ (rhaD–rhaB)568, hsdR514	Keio collection
JW2287	BW25113 ΔalaA772::kan	Keio collection
JW2376	BW25113 ΔalaC778::kan	Keio collection
JW5652	BW25113 ΔavtA775::kan	Keio collection
Plasmids
pAlaA	pT7::His6-AcTev-AlaA KanR	This work