FIG 5.

Iron does not promote rapid attachment of planktonic cells of P. aeruginosa Δpsl mutant. Biofilms of P. aeruginosa wild-type (WT) and Δpel (isogenic pelF deletion mutant), Δpsl (isogenic pslA deletion mutant), and Δalg (isogenic alg8 deletion mutant) mutant strains were grown in multiwell plate batch cultures for 6 h and treated with 100 μM FeCl₃ for 30 min before CV staining of the biofilm biomass (A) and OD₆₀₀ measurement of the planktonic biomass (B). Each image represents the stained biofilms. Error bars indicate standard deviations (n = 3). *, P ≤ 0.05; ***, P ≤ 0.001 versus untreated control samples.