Figure 3

Alginate production (mucoidy; A, B) and PHB accumulation (opacity; C. D) of A. vinelandii wild type ATCC 9046 and mutant strains grown on plates containing sucrose as carbon source. The higher mucoid phenotype of strain AT6 (A) compared to ATCC9046 (B), shows the alginate overproducing phenotype of this strain unable to produce PHB. The absence of PHB granules in AT6 is shown in (F), as compared to ATCC9046 wild type (E). The increased opacity phenotype of the non-mucoid strain AT41 (C) when compared to ATCC 9046 (D), is due to the overproduction of PHB. The high content of PHB granules can be observed in the bright AT41 cells (G).