Fig 5.

Adhesion of B. bifidum and binding of His₆-BopA to extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. (A) Adhesion (%) of radiolabeled (³H) B. bifidum DSM20456 and MIMBb75 to immobilized ECM proteins and BSA (background level of adherence). Adhesion significantly above the background level is indicated with an asterisk (P < 0.05). (B and C) Inhibition of adhesion with anti-BopA antiserum and preimmune serum treatment of ECM proteins. ECM proteins to which adhesion was above the background level were included in the inhibition assays. B. bifidum DSM20456 (B) and B. bifidum MIMBb75 (C) were pretreated with anti-BopA antiserum (gray columns) or preimmune serum (white columns) or left untreated (black columns) before adhesion. Significant reduction (P < 0.05) in the adhesion in the inhibition assays compared to the basic adhesion assay is indicated with an asterisk. (D) Binding of ¹²⁵I-labeled BopA to ECM proteins and BSA (background level of binding). Binding significantly above the background level is indicated with an asterisk (P < 0.05). Results are the means ± standard deviations of four (A and D) or three (B and C) technical replicates (parallel wells) of the representative experiments.