Table 1. Strains and plasmids used in this study.

Strain or plasmid	Characteristics#	Reference
L. lactis strains
NCDO712	L. lactis dairy isolate (harboring pLP712, pSH71, pSH72, pSH73, pSH74, pNZ712)	[26]This study
MG1363	Plasmid-cured derivative of L. lactis NCDO712	[26]
SH4109	Prophage-cured derivative of L. lactis NCDO712 containing all 6 plasmids found in this study	[26]
MG1388	A phage T712 lysogen derived from L. lactis MG1363	[26]
MG1362	Derivative of L. lactis NCDO712 (harbors pSH72)	[26]
MG1063	Derivative of L. lactis NCDO712 (harbors pSH73 and pSH72)	[26]
MG1261	Derivative of L. lactis NCDO712 (harbors pSH73)	[26]
MG1365	Derivative of L. lactis NCDO712 (harbors pSH71)	[26]
MG1299	Derivative of L. lactis NCDO712 (harbors pLP712)	[26]
NZ9700	NisR; Derivative of L. lactis MG1363; pepN::nisRK	[48]
MG1614	StrR and RifR derivative of L. lactis MG1363	[26]
IL1403	Plasmid-free derivative of L. lactis IL594	[1]
Plasmids
pIL253	EryR; 4.9kb; Low copy-number derivative of pAMβ1	[52]
pIL253pil	EryR; 13.1kb; pIL253 harboring pSH74 pilus gene cluster spaCB-spaA-srtC1-srtC2 with 300 bp upstream region	This study
pIL253pilΔ1	EryR; 11.6 kb; pIL253 harboring spaCB-spaA-srtC1-srtC2 with 1,5-kb internal deletion in spaCB	This study

^# Str^R—streptomycin resistant, Rif^R—rifampicin resistant, Ery^R—erythromycin resistant, Nis^R—nisin resistant