F. tularensis LVS lysates (wt) used as a non TC tagged control displaying three non specific bands (gray arrows) at a higher molecular weight than RipA-TC. Whole cell lysates prepared from mid exponential phase bacteria growing in Chamberlains defined media were suspended in FlAsH™ loading buffer containing biarsenical fluorescein and subjected

to SDS-PAGE. The RipA-TC fusion protein was detected and quantified by relative mean fluorescence with wild type F. tularensis LVS lacking any TC fusion protein serving as a control to identify background and non-specific fluorescence. To determine the detection limits of the TC tag fusion protein Mocetinostat ic50 assay, whole cell lysates (6000 ng to 60 ng total protein) of LVS expressing chromosomal (Fig. 4a) or plasmid ripA’-TC fusion alleles were incubated with selleck screening library FlAsH™ reagent, separated via SDS-PAGE and subjected to in – gel fluorescence measurement. There were 3 nonspecific biarsenical fluorescein binding proteins

between 22 kDa and 30 kDa in size in wild type F. tularensis LVS lysates, which were easily distinguishable from RipA-TC which migrated at approximately 18 kDa (Fig. 4c). RipA-TC expressed from plasmid was detectable in the 60 ng whole cell lysate samples whereas chromosomally expressed was detected in 600 ng samples (Fig. 4c). The concentration of RipA-TC (plasmid) was approximately 6.5 fold greater than RipA-TC (chromosome). Thus, the use of the RipA-TC fusion in conjunction with biarsenical labeling provided a sensitive and reproducible method to detect and quantify RipA in Francisella. Expression of ripA is affected by pH We previously reported

that F. tularensis LVS ΔripA had no discernable growth defects in CDM [21]. While evaluating the characteristics of a ΔripA strain in a NVP-HSP990 solubility dmso variety of environmental conditions we found that the growth of the mutant was pH sensitive. The reported optimal pH for the growth of F. tularensis in CDM is 6.2 to 6.4 [26]. F. tularensis LVS ΔripA grew at the same rate and extent as wild selleck chemicals type at this pH (Fig. 5a). However, when the initial pH of CDM was set to 7.5 the mutant achieved maximum densities significantly lower than that of wild type F. tularensis LVS (P < 0.05, Fig. 5b). In 4 independent tests the mean OD600 achieved by F. tularensis LVS ΔripA grown for 24 hours in CDM with an initial pH of 7.5 was 0.448 ± 0.06 versus 0.732 ± 0.2 for wild type LVS (P < 0.05). This is an intriguing result since the described pH of the macrophage cytoplasm is approximately 7.4 [27] and F. tularensis LVS ΔripA fails to replicate in the cytoplasm [21]. This growth defect was not evident when the mutant was cultivated in the complex rich media BHI (Fig. 5a), which had an initial pH of approximately 7.3. Minimal media and neutral pH were both necessary for the growth defect. Thus, the defect may be due to the effects of pH on nutrient acquisition in the mutant. Figure 5 Analysis of pH effects on growth.