Fig 4. Evaluation of plasmid stability and the absence of effects on bacterial growth.

A. Growth curves for M. bovis BCG strains carrying L5-tdTomato, Hsp60-tdTomato or the vector plasmids alone (no fluorescent protein expressed). B. Optical density (OD) of cultures at 600 nm in 7H9 media with (kan 25) or without (no kan) 25 μg/ml kanamycin over 18 days of culture. C. Fluorescence changes of the strain in media with or without kanamycin over 18 days of culture. D. Correlation between fluorescence and OD at 600 nm for the strain grown in medium without kanamycin. E. Correlation between fluorescence and OD at 600 nm for the strain grown in medium with kanamycin. For correlation analyses, samples for OD₆₀₀ within the range of 0.05–1 were selected. Data represent one of at least three independent replicate experiments. Values in the Y-axis represent mean of fluorescence or OD values. The error bars are standard deviations.