FIG 2.

Physiological features of isolated strains and growth curves of Lactobacillus strains with glycogen as the sole carbon source. (a) Effect of the conditions that simulate the vaginal tract for isolated L. crispatus strains. The heat maps represent the survival rate of each L. crispatus strain to NaCl and acidic conditions. (b) Growth curves of tested strains. On the y axis OD values are reported at a wavelength of 600 nm, whereas the x axis shows times (h). Each Lactobacillus strain is depicted with a different color line as indicated. (c) Box and whiskers plot based on Lactobacillus growth with glycogen as the sole carbon source. The boxes represent the three groups characterized by vaginal L. crispatus isolates, chicken L. crispatus isolates, and the other Lactobacillus species tested. The y axis represents the OD₆₀₀, while the x axis shows the times (h); the boxes represent 50% of the data set, distributed between the first and the third quartiles. The median divides the boxes into the interquartile range, while the “X” represents the mean. The dots inside the boxes display the data points that lie between the lower whisker line and the upper whisker line, while the dots outside the boxes show the outlier points that are positioned either below the lower whisker line or above the upper whisker line. Statistical analysis between groups were performed through ANOVA analysis. Moreover, we calculated the post hoc analysis LSD (least significant difference) for multiple comparisons.