Fig 4. Effect of mucus on the growth of C. perfringens.

(A) Growth analysis of C. perfringens CP56 in media supplemented with 5% chicken intestinal mucus pre-treated with either PBS (= untreated), 15μg of chitinase ChiA or ChiB for one hour. Growth rate is defined as the slope during exponential rate. Bars indicate the means with their respective standard deviations. (B) Growth analysis of wild-type and chitinase mutant strains in different media. Wild type CP56 (Black), CP56ΔchiA1 (light blue), CP56ΔchiA2 (dark blue), CP56ΔchiB1 (light orange) or CP56ΔchiB2 (dark orange) were grown in either nutrient rich medium, nutrient poor medium or nutrient poor medium supplemented with 5% crude chicken mucus. Growth rate is defined as the slope during the exponential phase. Bars indicate the means with their respective standard deviations. Significant differences are indicated with ‘*’ (p≤0.05). ‘**’ (p≤0.01). ‘***’ (p≤0.001) and ‘****’ (p≤0.0001).