Table 1 E. faecalis strains and plasmids used in this study.

E. faecalis 12030

Clinical isolate, strong biofilm producer

[33]

E. faecalis ATCC 29212

Reference strain

E. faecalis 12030ΔbgsA

(EF2891) bsgA mutant

[5]

E. faecalis 12030ΔbgsB

bgsB deletion mutant

This study

E. faecalis 12030ΔbgsB_rec.

Reconstituted mutant

This study

Escherichia coli DH5α

Gram-negative cloning host

Escherichia coli TOP10

Gram-negative cloning host

Invitrogen

plasmids

pCASPER

Gram-positive, temperature-sensitive mutagenesis vector

[34]

pCRII-TOPO

Gram-negative cloning vector

Invitrogen

pCASPER/ΔbgsB

This study

pMAD/bsgB

This study

pMAD

oripE194^ts, Em^R, Amp^R, bgaB

[35]