Figure 4.

Effect of HtpsA deficiency on virulence and pathogenicity of bacteria. (a) Comparison of bacterial adherence capability of the ΔhtpsA mutant with the wild-type 05ZYH33 strain. The normalized mean fluorescence intensities (NMFI) of HEp-2 cells after incubation with the bacteria are shown as columns with standard errors. (b) Survival of the 05ZYH33 and ΔhtpsA mutant in human whole blood. Mixtures were incubated at 37°C for 8 hours, and then the dilutions were coated on agar plates. The number of single colonies that grew after incubating overnight was counted. (c) Evaluation of the anti-phagocytotic ability of S. suis strains in macrophage RAW264.7 cells (* indicates P < 0.05; ** indicates P < 0.01, Student’s t-test).