Probing the SigE/SigH-interacting domains of PhoP. (A and B) In M-PFC experiments, M. smegmatis cells coexpressing M. tuberculosis PhoP or its indicated domains and SigH (A) and SigE (B) were grown on 7H10/Hyg/Kan plates in the presence or absence of Trim. Likewise, in panels C and D, M. smegmatis cells coexpressing M. tuberculosis PhoPD71N and SigH (C) or SigE (D) were grown on 7H10/Hyg/Kan plates in the presence or absence of Trim. Coexpression fusion plasmids pUAB400-phoP/pUAB300 and pUAB400/pUAB300-sigH or pUAB400-phoP/pUAB300 and pUAB400/pUAB300-sigE (expressing WT and mutant phoP genes, as indicated on the figure) were used as the respective empty vector controls. As positive controls, coexpression plasmids pUAB400-phoP/pUAB300-sigH or pUAB400-phoP/pUAB300-sigE encoding PhoP/SigH or PhoP/SigE pairs, respectively, showed M. smegmatis growth in the presence of Trim. All of the strains grew well in the absence of Trim.