FIG 5.

Cultivability tests after stress treatments. Recombinant strains carrying native plasmid (Oosyn) or the plasmid expressing hsp18 asRNA (OoAS18) were grown at 30°C in FT80m medium until the end of the exponential phase (A₆₀₀ = 0.8). Cultures were incubated at 48°C (A), or cells were transferred into FT80m medium adjusted to pH 3.5 (B) or pH 3 (C) and incubated at 30°C for 90 min. Bacterial cultivability was estimated (CFU · ml⁻¹). Significant differences are based on unilateral and paired t tests. ***, P < 0.0005; **, P < 0.005; *, P < 0.05.