Figure 4.

Impact of germination on floating and adhesion behaviors of C. albicans cells. 30-min and 60-min germinated cells were channeled through Tecoflex® EG 85A-functionalized and HBP-coated ibidi Sticky-Slide chambers with a flow rate of 4 dyn/cm². A: Adhesion kinetics of yeast cells, 30-min and 60-min germinated cells on HBP-coated Tecoflex® EG 85A after 30 min in flow. Data are shown as box and whisker plots (min-to-max) representing counts of adherent cells/mm²/min. **, P< 0.01 (Mann Whitney U test). B: Representative images of 30-min germinated cells (top left image), 60-min germinated cells (bottom left image) and floating 60-min germinated cells as triplets (right image; sessile cells are out of optical focus and surrounded by a halo). C, D: Germ tube angles of floating (blue symbols) and attached (red symbols) germinated cells of WT DSM1386 relative to the flow direction. Percentages of angle frequencies are displayed as polar plots for 30-min germinated cells (c), and 60-min-germinated cells (d). For every condition, a minimum of 100 and 70 germ tube angles were measured for adherent and floating cells, respectively