Table 1 Bacteria and plasmids used in this study

P. citrulli

 xjl12

Wild-type, Rif^R

This Laboratory

 ΔrpoN1

rpoN1 in-frame deletion mutant, Rif^R, Km^R

This study

 ΔrpoN1-C

rpoN1 complementation strain, containing pBBR-RpoN1, Rif^R, Km^R, Gm^R

This study

 ΔpilA

pilA in-frame deletion mutant, Rif^R, Km^R

This study

 ΔpilA-C

pilA complementation strain, containing pBBR-PilA, Rif^R, Km^R, Gm^R

This study

 WT (pBBR- pilA-Flag)

Wild-type xjl12 containing pBBR- pilA-Flag, Rif^R, Gm^R

This study

 ΔrpoN1 (pBBR- pilA-Flag)

ΔrpoN1 containing pBBR- pilA-Flag, Rif^R, Km^R, Gm^R

This study

Escherichia coli

 DH5α

Φ80 lacZDM15, D (lacZYA-argF) U169. recA1, endA1.thi-1

TaKaRa, Dalian, China

 BW20676

Δpir pro hsdR, recA

This Laboratory

 XL1-Blue MRF´ Kan

D(mcrA)183, D(mcrCB-hsdSMR-mrr)173, endA1, supE44, thi-1, recA1 gyrA96, relA1, lac, [F´proAB lacIqZDM15 Tn5 (KmR)]

Wang et al. (2018)

Plasmids

 pET30a

Multiple restriction sites, Km^R

This Laboratory

 pEX18GM

Suicide vector with a sacB gene, Gm^R

Hoang et al. (1998)

 pBBR1-MCS-5

Broad-host-range cosmid vector, Gm^R

Kovach et al. (1995)

 pTRG

Plasmid used for protein expression in bacterial one-hybrid, Tet^R

Wang et al. (2018)

 pBXcmT

Plasmid used for DNA cloning in bacterial one-hybrid assay, Chl^R

Wang et al. (2018)

 pET30a- RpoN1

pET30a with the coding region of RpoN1, Km^R

This study

 pTRG-RpoN1

pTRG with the coding region of RpoN1, Tet^R

This study

 pBXcmT-pilA

pBXcmT with the pilA promoter region, Chl^R

This study