Fig. 6.

A ΔwbtJ mutant has a reduced fitness in J774A.1 macrophages and is rescued by complementation. Gentamicin protection assays were performed using the (a) LVS ΔwbtJ mutant and the complemented strain containing pKM43 and (b) the natural biofilm variant isolate #15. c.f.u. were determined at 4 h (black bars) and 24 h (grey bars) post infection. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean from three independent experiments. Statistical significance was determined using linear mixed effects model on log10 transformed data to compare each strain to the wild-type at each timepoint. *p<0.05; ***p<0.001. (c) J774A.1 macrophages were infected with isolate #15 and assayed over the course of 3 days to determine if replication was delayed in the biofilm forming variants.