FIG 3.

The lcpB3 mutation diminishes cell size and chain length in Bacillus anthracis. Shown is a complementation analysis of B. anthracis chain length phenotypes, comparing the wild type (WT) and lcpD mutant and plasmids without (vector) or with wild-type lcpD (plcpD) (A) as well as WT and lcpB3 mutant and plasmid without or with wild-type lcpB3 (plcpB3) (B). (C) Spores of WT, lcpD, or lcpB3 mutant strains with or without complementing plasmid were germinated and incubated for 3.5 h, and culture aliquots were fixed for microscopy. The left side shows bright field microscopy images, whereas the right side shows fluorescence of bacteria stained with BODIPY-vancomycin. Scale bar = 10 μm. (D and E) The length and width of individual B. anthracis cells (n > 200) were measured using ImageJ and are displayed as box-and-whisker plots for cell length (D) or volume (E). Data were analyzed with ANOVA for significant differences compared to the WT unless specified as follows: **, P < 0.0001; *, P < 0.05; ns, not significant.