Fig. 4.

Increasing viscosity reduces killing and invasion of motile V. cholerae. a, b The survival percentage of motile and non-motile V. cholerae strains in HEPES medium alone or supplemented with ficoll or methylcellulose to increase viscosity. Infections were carried out for 14 h with an MOI of 0.1. Survival percentage and SEM is shown for three to six biological replicates. c Fluorescence microscopy of B. bacteriovorus (magenta) and V. cholerae (cyan), following 1 h of infection at MOI 0.1 in HEPES or Ficoll-supplemented medium. Scale bar indicates 10 µm. d Images from c were scored for externally attached or internalized B. bacteriovorus at 30 and 60 min. The percentage of internalized attachments and SEM is shown for three biological replicates. Error bars represent standard error of the mean. Statistics were analyzed by ANOVA with Dunnett’s multiple comparisons test