Figure 4.

Persister assay. (A–D) The WT, WT-dCas9, dCas9-tcaA, dCas9-tcaB, and ΔtcaA were challenged with 10-fold MIC of teicoplanin for 48 h. The sample was taken after 12 h and CFU counting was performed. The dCas9-tcaA and ΔtcaA significantly increased the number of persister cells in panel (A,B). No significant changes were observed in azithromycin and ciprofloxacin persister assays (C,D). Un-WT and the Un-dCas9-tcaA were used as untreated antibiotic control strains. S. aureus WT and WT-dCas9 were used as controls. Experiments were performed in triplicates and error bars denote standard deviation. Statistical significance was determined using Student’s t-test (control versus treatment). * p < 0.05.