Table 1 Strains and plasmids

E. coli.

S17-1 λ pir

thi rspL (Str ^r) endA sbcB15 sbcC hsdR (r_k^- m_k^-) Δ (lac-proAB) [F' traD36 lacI^q Δ(lacZ)M15 proA⁺B⁺]

JM105

Cloning host. thi rspL (Str ^r) endA sbcB15 sbcC hsdR (r_k^- m_k^-) Δ(lac-proAB) [F' traD36 lacI^q Δ (lacZ)M15 proA⁺B⁺]

L. monocytogenes EGDe

Host strain

L. monocytogenes LO28

Host strain

L. monocytogenes ScottA

Host strain

Wt

Nal^R mutant of L. monocytogenes ScottA (wt)

inlA'

Nal^R; inlA mutant of L. monocytogenes ScottA (wt) carrying an inframe deletion of the last 800 bp of the inlA gene.

wt-CFP

Nal^R; Em^R; (ScottA wt) harbouring pJEBAN2

wt-GFP

Nal^R; Em^R; (wt) harbouring pNF8

wt-YFP

Nal^R; Em^R; (ScottA wt) harbouring pJEBAN3

wt-HcRed

Nal^R; Em^R; (ScottA wt) harbouring pJEBAN4

wt-DsRed

Nal^R; Em^R; (ScottA wt) harbouring pJEBAN6

inlA'-CFP

Nal^R; Em^R; (ScottA inlA') harbouring pJEBAN2

inlA'-YFP

Nal^R; Em^R; (ScottA inlA') harbouring pJEBAN3

Plasmids

pUC-cfp⁺⁺

Ap^R; donor of cfp⁺⁺ gene

pUC-yfp⁺⁺

Ap^R; donor of yfp⁺⁺ gene

PhcRed1

Ap^R; donor of HcRed gene

PdsRed-Express

Ap^R; donor of DsRed-Express gene

pNF8

Em^R, Mob⁺(IncP), oriR pAMβ1, oriR pUC; Pdlt-gfpmut1

PJEBAN2

Em^R, Mob⁺(IncP), oriR pAMβ1, oriR pUC; Pdlt-cfp+

PJEBAN3

Em^R, Mob⁺(IncP), oriR pAMβ1, oriR pUC; Pdlt-yfp+

PJEBAN4

Em^R, Mob⁺(IncP), oriR pAMβ1, oriR pUC; Pdlt-HcRed

PJEBAN6

Em^R, Mob⁺(IncP), oriR pAMβ1, oriR pUC; Pdlt-DsRedExpress

pAUL-A

Em^R,

pJEBAN12

Em^R, pAUL-A carrying a 538 bp PCR product that give rise to an inframe deletion of the last 771 bp of InlA when recombined into the chromosome of L. monocytogenes ScottA