FIG 3.
Protein levels of MptA decrease significantly in the ΔlmeA mutant during stationary phase. (A and B) Western blot analysis of MptA (A) and MptC (B) over a 72-h time course of growth. MptA shows a significant decrease in the ΔlmeA mutant. MptC remains fairly constant between the WT, ΔlmeA mutant, and ΔlmeA::PnativelmeA-HA strain. For SDS-PAGE, the same concentration of protein was loaded into each lane. (C) Relative expression levels of the mptA transcript were normalized to that of gyrB. A dramatic decrease in mRNA transcript levels is noted between log phase and 48 h (stationary phase). ***, P < 0.001; **, P < 0.05, by ANOVA. At each time point, there were no significant differences among the WT, ΔlmeA mutant, and ΔlmeA::PnativelmeA-HA strain. ΔlmeA::C, ΔlmeA::PnativelmeA-HA strain.