Fig 14. Extracellular complementation by co-culturing the mutants which lack either EPS or CabA.

(A) Biofilms of the co-cultures prepared by mixing JN111, the cabA mutant, or the brpA mutant with either the cabA brpA double mutant or the brpA mutant at a 1:1 ratio were grown with VFMG-CF supplemented with 0.01% of arabinose and 10 mM of CaCl₂ for 24 h, and quantified using CV staining. Error bars represent the SD. **, P<0.005 relative to the biofilm of co-culture of JN111 and the cabA brpA double mutant. (B) The co-cultures prepared as described above were spotted onto VFMG-CF agar plates supplemented with 0.02% of arabinose and 10 mM CaCl₂, incubated at 30°C for 3 d, and then visualized using a stereomicroscope (Stemi DV4, Zeiss) at an 8× magnification. Bars, 1 mm; JN111, parent strain; cabA, cabA mutant; brpA, brpA mutant; cabA brpA, cabA brpA double mutant.