Figure 4

Tli1Tli2^AHare the cognate immunity proteins to Tle1^AH. A. hydrophila NJ-35 and the ∆clpV strain were used as the predator strains. ClpV, which encodes a putative ATPase required for T6SS function, was deleted to construct the T6SS⁻ strain (∆clpV). The prey strains included the gene deletion mutant ∆tle1-tli1tli2^AH and its single or double restoration strains of immunity genes, they are, C∆tli1^AH (∆tle1-tli1tli2^AH/pMMB-tli1^AH), C∆tli2^AH (∆tle1-tli1tli2^AH/pMMB-tli2^AH) and C∆tli1tli2^AH (∆tle1-tli1tli2^AH/pMMB-tli1tli2^AH). The predator and prey strains were cultured at a ratio of 5:1, and surviving prey cells were serially diluted and determined on the LB plate containing antibiotics. Data are presented as the mean ± standard deviation (error bars) of three independent experiments. ^##P < 0.01 indicates a significant difference between this group and the NJ-35 group. ***P < 0.001 or *P < 0.05 indicate significant differences between the two specified groups.