Cost of virulence factor production impairs growth on critical substrates.

<p>Comparison of the substrate usage capacity inferred from biolog phenotype microarray between the wild-type strain and the <i>phcA</i> mutant and its ability to support bacterial proliferation. Labeled compounds are carbon substrates known to be present <i>in planta</i> (xylem or apoplast) at a concentration >90 μM (in green) or lower concentration (in blue) [<a href="http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.ppat.1005939#ppat.1005939.ref036" target="_blank">36</a>]. Critical substrates which do not sustain a bacterial growth <5% of the maximal substrate usage capacity are those located below the dashed line.