Figure 9. Biofilm formation and histological examination of the tongues of mice infected with DAY286 (reference), hyr1/hyr1 mutant and HYR-1 overexpressing strains in the bcr1/bcr1 background.

Tongues of immunocomrpomised animals were excised after five days of infection and the dorsal aspect was digitally photographed. Four mice were infected with each strain and representative clinical pictures are shown from 1 mouse in each group on the left panel. On the right panel, representative PAS-stained thin sections of the tongue of one mouse per group are shown. Arrows indicate microorganisms invading the spinous cell layer of the epithelium (strain DAY286) or remaining superficially within biofilms (hyr1/hyr1 mutant and HYR1- overexpressing strains).