Table 1 Strains and plasmids used in this study

Strains

 C. necator H16

Wild-type Cupriavidus necator strain

DSM 428

 C. necator H16 ΔmscL

C. necator strain deficient in gene encoding large-conductance mechanosensitive channel

This work

 C. necator ht030b

C. necator strain with improved halotolerance following 250 generations of adaptive laboratory evolution

This work

 C. necator ht030b ΔmscL

Adapted halotolerant C. necator strain deficient in gene encoding large-conductance mechanosensitive channel

This work

 E. coli WM3064

DAP-auxotrophic E. coli donor strain used for conjugation of C. necator

William Metcalf (UIUC)

 E. coli BL21

E. coli B strain deficient in Lon and OmpT proteases widely used in protein expression

New England Biolabs

 E. coli BL21 ΔmscL

E. coli BL21-derived strain deficient in gene encoding large-conductance mechanosensitive channel

This work

 E. coli BL21 ΔmscL ΔmscS

E. coli BL21-derived strain deficient in genes encoding large-conductance mechanosensitive channel and small-conductance mechanosensitive channel

This work

Plasmids

 pBADTrfp

araBAD promoter, T7-stem loop, Kan^R, mRFP1 expression gene. Addgene #99382

[29]

 pMQ30k

pMQ-30 derivative with Kan^R marker; SacB sucrose sensitivity gene; integrating plasmid used for gene deletion in C. necator

[35]

 pMQ30k-ΔmscL

pMQ30k plasmid derivative containing 500 nt upstream and 500 nt downstream of mscL gene

This work

 pSIJ8

Temperature-sensitive plasmid expressing lambda Red recombinase and flippase recombinase genes; Amp^R; for gene deletion in E. coli. Addgene #68122

[36]