FIG 3.

Chitin attachment of V. vulnificus type IV pilin mutants. Depicted are the differences in chitin attachment between parent strain C7184 and strains with mutations in type IV pilin protein A (pilA) (C7184ΩA) and prepilin peptidase (pilD) (C7184ΩD). Error bars represent the standard errors of the means for seven replicates. Asterisks indicate significant differences relative to the parental strain. One-way ANOVA indicated that the loss of type IV pilin genes significantly reduces the ability of C7184 to attach to chitin.