Table 1.

S. epidermidis 1585 strains used in this study

S. epidermidis strain:	Relevant biofilm-related genes	Reference
1585 WT	embp-positive, icaADBC-negative, aap-negative clinical isolate from a port-catheter infection	[34]
1585Pxyl/tetembp	The natural embp promotor has been replaced with an anhydrotetracycline (200 ng ml−1)-inducible promotor. The resistance marker is erythromycin (200 ng ml−1)	[14]
1585pTXica	Contains icaADBC fused with xylose-inducible promoter [2 % (w/v)] on a plasmid with tetracycline (20 µg ml−1) as resistance marker	[14]
1585Δembp	embp-negative, icaADBC-negative	This study