FIG 6.

TssA_VF, TssM, and TasR are required to activate expression of T6SS structural proteins in hydrogel. (A) Volcano plots showing the log₂ fold difference in protein abundance between the T6SS2 mutant and wild-type ES401. Proteins with a negative log₂ fold change are more abundant in wild-type ES401 (left; orange), and proteins with a positive log₂ fold change are more abundant in the mutant (right [blue]). Data points above the dashed line had significant P values between treatments (Student's t test with the Bonferroni correction, P < 0.017), and those outside the vertical dashed lines had a magnitude fold change of >1 log₂ between treatments. (B) Table describing the log₂ fold change (mutant versus WT) of all proteins that were significantly differentially expressed between the mutant and wild type in at least one treatment. Underlined log₂ fold change indicates significantly differently expressed compared to the wild type (Bonferroni corrected α = 0.017). NSAF values of zero were replaced with the limit of detection (0.000762) for calculation of log₂ fold change values. Heat map colors were assigned expression levels of high (orange) to low (blue) based on log₂ fold change values. (C) Structural T6SS2 proteins. Orange indicates that the protein was differentially expressed between wild-type ES401 and at least one of the regulatory mutants (Student's t test with the Bonferroni correction, P < 0.017).