Table 1.

Strains used in this work.

Strain	Genotype	Source
E. coli DH5α	supE44 ΔlacU169 (Φ80 lacZΔM15) hsdR17, recA1, endA1, gyrA96, thi-1 relA1	[10]
E. coli BL21 (DE3)	F- ompT gal dcm lon HsdSB (rB-mB-) λ(DE3 [lacI lacUV5-T7 gene 1 ind1 sam7 nin5])	[11]
T. thermophilus HB27	ATCC BAA-163/DSM7039	Y. Koyama
T. thermophilus NAR1	[pTT27::nar]	[12]
T. thermophilus HB8	ATCC 27634	Y. Koyama
T. thermophilus HB27EC	HB27 ago::agoISTth7	[13]
T. thermophilus HB27Cm		This work
T. thermophilus ∆pilA4	HB27EC ∆pilA4	[14]
T. thermophilus HB27 ∆pilA4::hyg	HB27EC ΔTTC0858::hyg	[14]
T. thermophilus HB27H	HB27ECΔTTC0313::hyg	[14]
T. thermophilus HB27 gdh::kat	HB27 [∆TTC1211::kat]	[12]
T. thermophilus HB27 hepA::pk	HB27EC TTC0147::pK18	This work
T. thermophilus HB27 ∆hepA::kat	HB27EC ∆TTC0147::kat	This work
T. thermophilus HB27 ∆hepA::hyg	HB27EC ∆TTC0147::hyg,	This work
T. thermophilus HB27 ∆hepA::kat pilA4	HB27EC ∆TTC0147::kat, ∆pilA4	This work
T. thermophilus HB27 hepAYFPph	HB27EC [TTC0147-sYFP:pH118]	This work
T. thermophilus HB27 ∆hepA, ∆pilA4 PMH	HB27EC ∆TTC0147::kat, ∆pilA4 [pMH::TTC0147]	This work