FIG. 5.
Role of wall teichoic acids in adhesion to or invasion of corneal epithelial cells. (A) Adhesion of HCECs by WTA-deficient bacteria. (B) Cartoon depicting the regulation of tarO by lac repressor binding to the Pspac operator. Induction of tarO occurs upon addition of IPTG. Adhesion of RN4220 and the IPTG-inducible tarO strain in the absence and presence of IPTG to HCECs is shown. (C) Invasion of HCECs by RN4220 ΔtarO. Data represent means ± standard errors (n = 10). ***, P < 0.001 (in comparison with the results for the parental strain).