FIG. 7.

Cellular adhesion of smooth and rough variants of M. chubuense (A), M. gilvum (B), M. obuense (C), M. parafortuitum (D), and M. vaccae (E) strains to glass tubes at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7 days of incubation. The cellular adhesion level is expressed as the number of CFU/cm². The results are expressed as means ± standard deviations obtained from triplicates. The results are representative of one out of three independent experiments. Cellular adhesion levels of smooth variants were significantly higher than those of rough variants (*, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01). Cellular adhesion levels of rough variants were significantly higher than those of smooth variants (&, P < 0.05).