Skip to main content
. 2024 Dec 30;19(1):989–998. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.4c12648

Figure 3.

Figure 3

IsdB-TLR4 strength confirmed by anti-TLR4 blocking and S. aureus strain lacking IsdB. (a) Rupture force histograms of 2 representative Δspa cells, cultured in RPMI medium, obtained by recording force–distance curves in PBS at a retraction speed of 1 μm/s between TLR4-functionalized AFM tips before (n = 188 and 276 adhesive curves, for cell #1 and cell #2, respectively) and after blocking with 100 μg/mL of anti-TLR4 monoclonal antibody (n = 98 and 65 adhesive curves, for cell #1 and cell #2, respectively). (b) Rupture force and rupture length histograms of a representative S. aureus cell expressing IsdB (WT, n = 200 adhesive curves) cultured in RPMI. (c) Force data of a representative S. aureus cell lacking IsdB (ΔisdB, n = 95 adhesive curves) cultured in RPMI. Schemes of the SMFS setups and representative retraction force profiles are shown as insets. Box plots comparing (d) binding frequency and (e) rupture forces obtained for Δspa cells before and after blocking with anti-TLR4 monoclonal antibody, after tip treatment with monoclonal mouse IgG as a negative control, WT and ΔisdB strains (n = 8, 8, 10, 13, and 9 cells, respectively). Means are represented by stars, medians by lines, boxes indicate the 25–75% quartiles, and whiskers the standard deviation. P-values were determined using Kruskal–Wallis test followed by post hoc Dunn’s test.