FIGURE 3.

Role of PfbB in adherence of encapsulated and unencapsulated pneumococci to human epithelial cell lines. The left panels show the adherence of the D39 strain (encapsulated) and of its isogenic ΔpfbB mutant (FP242). The right panels show the adherence of the DP1004 strain (unencapsulated) and of its isogenic ΔpfbB mutant (FP228). The number of adherent bacteria was determined by counting CFUs in bacterial lysates as described under “Experimental Procedures.” Data show means ± S.D. of three independent experiments conducted in triplicate. Statistical analysis was performed using Student's t test.