Table 1 Bacterial strains and plasmids used in this study

WT

Wild type strain H111, Genomovars III of the B. cepacia complex

23

WT(GGDEF)

Wild type strain harboring the expression construct pLAFR3-GGDEF

14

WT(wspR)

Wild type strain harboring the expression construct pMLS7-wspR

This study

∆rpfF_Bc

BDSF-minus mutant derived from H111 with rpfF _Bc being deleted

14

∆rpfF_Bc(EAL)

Mutant ∆rpfF_Bc harboring the expression construct pLAFR3-EAL

14

∆rpfF_Bc(rocR)

Mutant ∆rpfF_Bc harboring the expression construct pMLS7-rocR

14

∆rpfF_Bc(wspR)

Mutant ∆rpfF_Bc harboring the expression construct pMLS7-wspR

This study

∆rpfF_Bc (rpfF_Bc)

Mutant ∆rpfF_Bc harboring the expression construct pMLS7-rpfFBc

14

∆rpfF_Bc (cepI)

Mutant ∆rpfF_Bc harboring the expression construct pMLS7-cepI

This study

∆rpfF_Bc (PcepI-lacZ)

Mutant ∆rpfF_Bc harboring the expression construct PcepI-lacZ

This study

∆rpfR

Deletion mutant with rpfR being deleted

14

∆rpfR(rpfR)

Mutant ∆rpfR harboring the expression construct pMLS7-rpfR

14

∆rpfR(rpfRAAL)

Mutant ∆rpfR harboring the expression construct pMLS7-rpfRAAL

This study

∆rpfR(rpfRGGAAF)

Mutant ∆rpfR harboring the expression construct pMLS7-rpfRGGAAF

This study

∆cepI

Deletion mutant with cepI being deleted

23

∆cepI(rpfF_Bc)

Mutant ∆cepI harboring the expression construct pMLS7-rpfF_Bc

This study

∆rpfF_Bc∆cepI

Double deletion mutant with rpfF _Bc and cepI being deleted

This study

∆rpfR (PcepI-lacZ)

Mutant ∆rpfR harboring the expression construct PcepI-lacZ

This study

BCAM0227 (PcepI-lacZ)

Insertional mutant of BCAM0227 harboring the expression construct PcepI-lacZ

This study

E. coli

DH5α

supE44 ∆lacU169(Φ80lacZ∆M15) hsdR17 recA1 endA1 gyrA96 thi-1 relA1 λpir

Laboratory collection

OP50

Food source of C. elegans

22, 34

Agrobacterium tumefaciens

CF11

AHL reporter strain

Lab of Stephen K. Farrand

Plasmid

pMLS7-rpfF_Bc

pMLS7 containing rpfF _Bc

12

pMLS7-rpfR

pMLS7 containing rpfR

14

pMLS7-rpfRAAL

pMLS7-rpfR harboring an E443A amino acid substitution

This study

pMLS7-rpfRGGAAF

pMLS7-rpfR harboring a D318A and E319A amino acid substitution

This study

pMLS7-cepI

pMLS7 containing cepI

13

pMLS7-wspR

pMLS7 containing wspR

This study

pMLS7-rocR

pMLS7 containing rocR

This study

pLAFR3-GGDEF

pLAFR3 containing the encoding region of the GGDEF domain of RpfR

14

pLAFR3-EAL

pLAFR3 containing the encoding region of the EAL domain of RpfR

14

PcepI-lacZ

pME2-lacZ containing promoter of cepI

This study