FIG. 6.

Assessment of collagen binding activities using trypsin-treated rabbit heart valves. Rabbit heart valves were surgically removed and treated with trypsin to remove the endothelia. Equal CFU numbers of the wild-type (WT) and the rmlC (rhamnose epimerase mutant) bacteria were added to the treated valves and incubated. The competitive index (CI) was calculated as the ratio of the numbers of mutant to wild-type CFU in the cardiac valve samples divided by the ratio of the numbers of mutant to wild-type CFU in the inoculum (CI, 0.33; Paired t test; P = 0.008), which was similar to that of the emaA mutant (CI, 0.27).