FIG 6 .

Mechanical tension potentiates bacterium-corneocyte adhesion in low-NMF conditions. (A) Adhesion forces measured at increasing loading rates (LRs) between S. aureus AD08 bacteria and low-NMF₁ corneocytes (data pooled from 4,009 adhesive peaks on three cell pairs). (B) The force distribution switches with the rate at which force is applied, i.e., while weak bonds dominate at low LR (<1,000 pN ⋅ s⁻¹), strong bonds are favored at s high LR (>10,000 pN ⋅ s⁻¹). These results support a catch bond model where ClfB-mediated adhesion is enhanced through force-induced conformational changes.