Table 1 Bacterial strains and plasmids used in this study

pET-22b

Amp^R, T7 promoter

Invitrogen

pET-E

Amp^R, carrying the crtE gene from D. wulumuqiensis R12

This study

pET-EB

Amp^R, carrying the crtE and crtB genes from D. wulumuqiensis R12

This study

pET-EBI

Amp^R, carrying the crtE, crtB and crtI genes from D. wulumuqiensis R12

This study

pET-EIB

Amp^R, carrying the crtE, crtI and crtB genes from D. wulumuqiensis R12

This study

pET-BEI

Amp^R, carrying the crtB, crtE and crtI genes from D. wulumuqiensis R12

This study

pET-BIE

Amp^R, carrying the crtB, crtI and crtE genes from D. wulumuqiensis R12

This study

pET-IEB

Amp^R, carrying the crtI, crtE and crtB genes from D. wulumuqiensis R12

This study

pET-IBE

Amp^R, carrying the crtI, crtB and crtE genes from D. wulumuqiensis R12

This study

Strains

 Deinococcus wulumuqiensis R12

Aerobic, Gram-positive, non-spore-forming, nonmotile, tetrad-forming coccus; forming reddish-orange, circular, opaque colonies (approx. 1.8–3.8 mm in diameter) after incubation on TGY medium for 14 days at 37 °C

(Wang et al. 2010)

 E. coli DH5α

deoR endA1 gyrA96 hsdR17 (rK− -mK+) recA1 relA1 supE44 thi-1 Δ (lacZYA-argF) U169 Φ80lacZ ΔM15 F -λ-

Vazyme

 E. coli BL21(DE3)

F− ompThsdS (rB− mB−) gal dcm (DE3)

Vazyme

 EDWe

Amp^R, E. coli BL21(DE3) containing the plasmid pET-22b

This study

 EBI

Amp^R, E. coli BL21(DE3) containing the plasmid pET-EBI

This study

 EIB

Amp^R,E. coli BL21(DE3) containing the plasmid pET-EIB

This study

 BEI

Amp^R, E. coli BL21(DE3) containing the plasmid pET-BEI

This study

 BIE

Amp^R, E. coli BL21(DE3) containing the plasmid pET-BIE

This study

 IEB

Amp^R, E. coli BL21(DE3) containing the plasmid pET-IEB

This study

 IBE

Amp^R, E. coli BL21(DE3) containing the plasmid pET-IBE

This study