Fig 6.

Effects of INT-407 cells on smcR expression. (A and B) Total RNAs and proteins were isolated from the wild-type and luxP mutant biofilms exposed to various numbers of INT-407 cells as indicated. The relative levels of smcR expression (A) were determined by qRT-PCR analyses, and the expression level of smcR in the biofilm exposed to MEMF (control) was set as 1. The smcR expression levels are the means ± SEM of results from three independent experiments. *, P < 0.05, relative to the biofilms exposed to MEMF alone (control). Protein samples were resolved by SDS-PAGE, and SmcR was detected by Western blotting (B) using a rat anti-SmcR antiserum. WT, wild type; KS12, luxP mutant. (C) Biofilms of the wild type exposed to either 10⁵ INT-407 cells or MEMF for 10 h were harvested and used to isolate total RNAs. The expression levels of the genes listed on the left were determined by qRT-PCR analyses. Each column represents the mRNA level of each gene expressed in the biofilms exposed to INT-407 cells relative to that in the biofilms exposed to MEMF. Error bars represent the SEM. The relative levels of expression of each gene are the means ± SEM of results from three independent experiments.