Table 1. Strains and plasmids used in this study.

Strains or plasmids	Genotype or properties	References
S. maltophilia BurA1	Wild type, soil strain	[7]
S. maltophilia BurE1
S. maltophilia PierC1
S. maltophilia MEEB-Am6.1	Intra-amoebal bacteria	[17]
S. maltophilia MEEB-Am6.2
S. maltophilia K279a	Clinical reference strain	[28]
S. maltophilia R551.3	Environmental reference strain	[29]
BurA1ΔebyCAB	S. maltophilia BurA1 mutant of ebyCAB operon, ΔebyCAB	This study
Escherichia coli DH5a	F- Ф80dlacZΔM15 Δ(lacZYA-argF)U169 deoR recA1 endA1 hsdR17 (rk- mk+) phoA supE44, thi-1 gyrA96 relA1λ-	Invitrogen
E. coli S17-1	λpir-positive mating strain	In the laboratory
plasmid pGEMT-easy	Ampr, lacZ	Promega
plasmid pEX18Tc	sacB, oriT, Tcr	Promega
plasmid pGEM-UD	pGEMT-easy containing the upstream and downstream regions of ebyCAB operon	This study
plasmid pEX18-UD	pEX18Tc containing the upstream and downstream regions of ebyCAB operon	This study