FIG. 3.

Biofilm mutants isolated in a screen of transposon insertion mutants in an S. pneumoniae TIGR4 background. A collection of 6,000 mariner transposon insertion mutants was screened for biofilm formation. (A) Mutants 72D3 and 93H2 were poor biofilm formers and had insertions in lytC (SP1573). (B) Mutants 24C, 55B4, 79F5, 94B1, and 99G7 were all hyperbiofilm formers and had insertions mapping to cps4E (SP0350) of the capsule locus. The total biofilm attached was estimated by staining with CV and measuring the absorbance at 570 nm (OD570). Bacteria were grown in 96-well polystyrene plates in THY plus 0.3% glucose in a 5% CO₂ incubator at 37°C. Results are representative of three experiments. Error bars show standard deviations. WT, wild type.