Table 2.
COMSTAT analysis of P. aeruginosa wild-type and complemented mutant biofilm structure following removal of arabinose, which results in a lack of sagS expressiona
| P. aeruginosa strain | Time (h)b | Total biomass (μm3/μm2) | Substratum coverage (%) | Avg thickness (μm) | Maximum thickness (μm) | Roughness coefficient (dimensionless) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PAO1/pJN105 | 0 | 11.92 ± 9.28 | 28.85 ± 13.29 | 11.97 ± 11.48 | 37.17 ± 26.78 | 1.25 ± 0.28 |
| 72 | 31.66 ± 10.56 | 29.37 ± 11.36 | 30.99 ± 10.58 | 66.33 ± 13.90 | 1.22 ± 0.30 | |
| 144 | 36.92 ± 18.00 | 45.01 ± 19.18 | 37.91 ± 18.76 | 111.33 ± 19.06 | 0.92 ± 0.44 | |
| PAO1 ΔsagS/pJN-sagS | 0 | 11.89 ± 8.48 | 25.34 ± 11.36 | 11.90 ± 8.99 | 47.67 ± 29.96 | 1.38 ± 0.23 |
| 72 | 1.88 ± 0.84* | 16.28 ± 9.72* | 1.83 ± 0.99* | 14.50 ± 12.00* | 1.55 ± 0.30 | |
| 144 | 1.40 ± 0.84* | 15.55 ± 7.77* | 1.21 ± 0.85* | 6.33 ± 2.53* | 1.61 ± 0.20* |
a
The COMSTAT analysis was carried out with biofilms grown in triplicate, using at least 6 images per replicate.
*
, significantly different from the value for PAO1/pJN105 at the respective time point. P was ≤0.05, as determined by ANOVA and SigmaStat.
b
Time zero for biofilms was 144 h. Time corresponds to the time following the switch to an arabinose-free medium.