Figure 4.

Phenotype analysis of the Zobellia galactanivorans (ΔausR) deletion mutant. (A) Growth of WT (black) and mutant (red) strains in liquid Zobell medium at 25°C (mean ± s.e.m., n = 3). (B) Photograph of cultures in Zobell medium 9 h post-inoculation. (C, D, E) Growth of WT (black) and mutant (red) strains at 25°C in MMM supplemented with (C) alginate S1600NS (Mw = 3.9 10⁵), (D) alginate FD176 (Mw = 2.0 10⁵) or (E) oligoalginates < 10 kDa (mean ± s.e.m., n = 3). (F) Growth of equal amount of WT or ΔausR strain spotted on jellified alginate. Photographs show representative results of independent triplicate experiments. (G) Effect of ausR deletion on the expression of the AUS for cells in steady state in Zobell medium or alginate-supplemented minimum medium. Transcript levels were normalized against the geometric mean of glyA, icdA and gmkA. Values are mean ± s.e.m. of triplicate measurements.