FIG 3.

Adherence of Embp-producing staphylococci to full-length Fn. A 96-well microtiter plate coated with 10-μg/ml full-length Fn was incubated for 1 h with staphylococci. After washing, bacteria were indirectly quantified by a colorimetric reaction. (A) Comparison of the Fn adherence of S. epidermidis 1585 and its isogenic embp deletion mutant grown under embp inducing conditions (50) shows a clear reduction in the bacterial load, although background binding is still observed that might be attributed to Embp-independent cell surface structures. (B) Binding of S. carnosus TM300 × pEmbp_5F and S. carnosus TM300 × pEmbp_9FG (expressing five F- or nine FG-repeats, respectively) to surface-immobilized Fn. Both, F- and FG-repeats support binding to Fn. Wild-type S. carnosus TM300 served as a control. ***, P < 0.0001 (Student t test).