Legend.

<p>Growth curve results of <i>M</i>. <i>catarrhalis</i> wild type strain O35E and selected knockout mutants. X-axis: time (hours). Y-axis: optical density at 600 nm. The <i>lolA</i> and <i>lolB</i> mutants show slow growth (prolonged lag phase and lower growth rate) and reduced growth (lower final optical density) compared to wild type in both nutrient-rich brain heart infusion broth (panel A) and nutrient-limited chemically defined media (CDM) (panel B). The <i>afe</i> mutant has growth characteristics similar to those of the wild type strain in nutrient-rich brain heart infusion broth (panel C), whereas the <i>afe</i> mutant shows slower growth (prolonged lag phase and lower growth rate) in nutrient-limited CDM (panel D). Each point is the average of five wells, and error bars indicate standard deviations.