FIG. 6.

Detachment of S. aureus biofilms by restriction endonucleases. (A) S. aureus SH1000 biofilms grown in microtiter plates were treated for 1 h with 100 U/ml of various restriction endonucleases and then rinsed and stained with crystal violet. Percent detachment was calculated as 1 − (A₅₉₅[buffer + enzyme]/A₅₉₅[buffer alone]) × 100. Values show means and ranges for duplicate wells. The restriction endonucleases used (and average restriction fragment lengths in kilobases) were HinfI (0.4), FokI (1.0), HaeIII (2.1), AlwNI (5.1), ApaLI (7.8), NcoI (11.8), KpnI (16.2), AvaI (17.9), BamHI (23.9), and SstI (41.5). (B) Detachment of S. aureus 8325, MRSA252, SH1000, and MZ100 biofilms by HinfI and BamHI. Biofilms were treated with 100 U/ml of enzyme for 1 h, and then biofilm biomass was quantitated by crystal violet staining. Values show means and standard errors for quadruplicate wells.