Figure 6.

(a) Adhesion to A549 human lung adenocarcinoma epithelial cells of conidia produced by deletion mutants of AFUA_1G17250 (RodB), AFUA_4G01030, or AFUA_4G02805 (encoding an Asp haemolysin‐like protein). Adhesion data for the AFUA_4G01030 and AFUA_4G02805 (encoding an Asp haemolysin‐like protein) complemented strains (comp) are also shown to the right of the panel. Ordinate, adherence of conidia (%) to A549 cells (mean ± SD of three independent measurements). (b) Scanning electron microscope photographs showing conidial surfaces of the deletion mutants and the complemented strains. Scale bars: 5 μm. (c) Hydrophobicity of conidia in the deletion mutants and the complemented strains. (d) Proportion (%) of spike area divided by the total conidial surface area. Percent values are mean ± SD of three independent measurements. Comp, strains complemented with respect to the deleted genes. *: p < .05 in comparison to KU wt strain by Student t‐test in all panels