Figure 5.

Neither coa nor vWbp significantly affects S. aureus Newman infectivity. Experimental endocarditis induced by inoculation of parent S. aureus Newman and isogenic mutant strains lacking coa, vwbp or clfA alone or in combination. Rats with catheter-induced aortic vegetations were challenged with 10⁴ CFU of the indicated S. aureus Newman strains. The columns express the percentage of infected vegetations 24 h after bacterial challenge. The number of infected/total number of vegetations per group is indicated at the bottom of the columns. Statistical comparisons were determined by the Chi-square test. NS, not significant.