FIG 5.

Defined medium designed to favor growth as aggregates or planktonic cells. (a) Aggregation curve of WT M. smegmatis in glycerol defined medium. Culture image was taken after 27 h of growth. Data are representative of n = 4 trials. (b) Aggregation curve of WT M. smegmatis in pyruvate defined medium. Culture image was taken after 34 h of growth. Data are representative of n = 4 trials. (c) WT M. smegmatis was grown in pyruvate plus NH₄Cl defined medium for 34 h (Time 0). Glycerol was then added to 25 mM, and cultures were incubated for 6 more hours before harvesting. Bars represent biological triplicates, and error bars represent standard deviations. Asterisks represent P < 0.05 by the Student t test.