Table 1.

Cell surface hydrophobicity of GAS strains

GAS Strain	M-Type	Actual Value†	Hydrophobicity Index‡
MGAS6183 WT	M41	92.6 ± .86	100
MGAS6183 Δscl1	M41	85.2 ± 2.2	**92
MGAS6183 Δscl1-C	M41	98.0 ± .31	105
MGAS5005 WT	M1	80.3 ± .89	100
MGAS5005 Δscl1	M1	63.3 ± 3.2	**79
MGAS6143 WT	M28	94.3 ± .73	100
MGAS6143 Δscl1	M28	72.6 ± .62	**78

^† Actual hydrophobicity values were calculated based on hexadecane binding as described in Methods. Values are representative of three separate experiments with ten replicates ± SD

^‡ Hydrophobicity Index represents the ration of actual hydrophobicity value for each strain to that of the isogenic wild-type (WT) strain multiplied by 100

** Asterisks denote a statistically significant difference of Δscl1 mutants versus WTs at P ≤ 0.001