Fig. 3

Measurement of extracellular pyruvate during growth of S. mutans wild-type and ΔlrgAB strains in high-glucose media. The wild type UA159 (a) and ΔlrgAB (b) strains were grown in FMC medium supplemented by 45 mM glucose. For time course measurements of extracellular pyruvate and growth, samples were taken at 1 or 2 h intervals (see Materials and Methods for details). The concentration of pyruvate was determined using an EnzyChrom™ pyruvate assay kit, and growth was measured by the optical density at 600 nm (OD₆₀₀). Bars indicate the concentration of extracellular pyruvate; solid line with circles indicates growth curve. The results are representative of two independent experiments