FIG 4.
Effect of starvation on cellular levels of LM/LAM and their biosynthetic enzymes. (A to C) SDS-PAGE analysis of LM/LAM. LAM decreases during starvation, while LM remains constant. A representative image of biological triplicate is shown. LM (B) and LAM (C) from a biological triplicate were quantified, and changes relative to WT levels in log phase are shown in dot plots. Averages are shown as horizontal bars. (D) Western blot analysis of MptA in log phase and after starvation. MptA is decreased in the ΔlmeA mutant in comparison to levels in the WT during starvation. (E) Western blot of MptC in log phase and after starvation. No significant decrease was noted among the WT, ΔlmeA mutant, and ΔlmeA::PnativelmeA-HA strain before and after starvation. Equal amounts of protein were loaded for Western blot analysis. (F) Transcript levels of mptA relative to levels in the WT in log phase, normalized to gyrB levels. The levels of the mptA transcript decreased from log phase to starvation, but deletion of the lmeA gene had no apparent impact. **, P < 0.01, by ANOVA. ΔlmeA::C, ΔlmeA::PnativelmeA-HA strain.