Fig. 7
The increased inhibition of competence induction by ccnCL relative to ccnC in RMV8. A Transformation frequencies of independent RMV8rare and RMV8domi mutants expressing ccnC and ccnCL. Frequencies were calculated as the count of rifampicin-resistant colonies relative to the number of colony-forming units (cfu) in the sample. Each point represents an independent experiment, summarised for each genotype as a boxplot. Data are coloured according to genotype. Induced competence experiments measured the frequency of recombination following the addition of exogenous CSP. Spontaneous competence experiments measured the frequency of recombination in overnight cultures with no added CSP. A two-tailed Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to compare the transformation frequencies of the matched ccnC and ccnCL mutants within each background, using a Holm-Bonferroni correction for multiple testing. Significance is coded as: p < 0.05, *; p < 0.01, **; p < 10−3, ***; p < 10−4, ****. B Levels of ccnC, ccnCL and comC transcripts in RMV8rare mutants expressing either ccnC or ccnCL at the end of spontaneous transformation experiments. RNA concentrations were estimated using qRT-PCR and quantified using the ΔΔCt approach (see “Methods”). The points represent the data from three technical replicate measurements of each of three biological replicates