Fig 4.

Detection of HBGA-like substances in extracted bacterial polymers. (A) The wells on an ELISA plate were coated with GII.6 NoVLPs, and EPS, SOM, and LPS extracted from Enterobacter sp. SENG-6 and EPS extracted from Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC 35984) were inoculated into the wells. We used ELISAs to measure A-, B-, and O(H)-like substances in the EPS, SOM, or LPS which bound to NoVLPs. A well without the incubation of bacterial polymeric substances was used as a control. (B) The wells were coated with GI.1 NoVLPs (strain 8fIIa or the W375A mutant), and the EPS extracted from Enterobacter sp. SENG-6 or the EPS treated with α-N-acetyl-galactosaminidase was reacted. A-like substances which bound to the NoVLPs were detected by ELISA. All results are expressed as the absorbance relative to the control; therefore, values of >1 (dashed line) indicate the presence of A-, B-, or O(H)-like substances. The error bars represent the standard deviations of triplicate independent measurements. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01 (t test).