Table 1 Strains and plasmids used in this study

Strains

B. cereus ATCC14579

laboratory collection

B. cereus Δ plcR

ATCC14579 plcR::Km

[5]

B. subtilis 168

laboratory collection

B. cereus F4430/73

laboratory collection

B. thuringiensis 407 Cry-

laboratory collection

E. coli ET12567

(F^- dam-13::Tn9 dcm-6 hsdM hsdR recF143 zjj-202::Tn10 galK2 galT22 ara14 pacY1 xyl-5 leuB6 thi-1)

laboratory collection

Proteus mirabilis

N. Boemare

Pseudomonas aeruginosa

N. Boemare

Salmonella spp.

N. Boemare

Enterococcus faecalis

P. Serror

Listeria innocua

laboratory collection

Streptococcus agalactiae

P. Serror

Staphylococcus aureus

P. Serror

Plasmids

pHT304-18'Z

Ap^R and Em^R cloning vehicle; lacZ reporter gene

[38]

pHT-Ppep1'Z

433 bp region upstream from clo start codon inserted between Pst I and Bam HI sites of pHT304-18'Z

this work

pHT-Ppep2'Z

448 bp region upstream from pep2 start codon inserted between Hin dIII and Bam HI sites of pHT304-18'Z

this work

pHT-Ppep3'Z

480 bp region upstream from pep3 start codon inserted between Hin dIII and Bam HI sites of pHT304-18'Z

this work