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. 2021 Sep 21;118(39):e2104490118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2104490118

Fig. 3.

Fig. 3.

Distinct macromolecular properties of MUC5AC and MUC5B mucins on surfaces: Aspect ratio analysis was performed on images of dilute MUC5AC (A) and MUC5B (B) preparations using AR16.10.211 software (Oxford Instruments). Selected images had less than 4% mucin coverage to enable the analysis of isolated macromolecules. Images were first flattened (Flatten 0) and then segmented by masking the image at 350 picometers, dilating the mask, and then running the analyze particles job to segment particles excluding particles with diameters less than 50 nm. The aspect ratio (length/width, with length being the longer dimension) of particles was recorded across several images for both the MUC5AC sample and the MUC5B sample. (C) MUC5AC macromolecules have a low aspect ratio, while MUC5B macromolecules have both high (dominant) and sometimes low aspect ratio macromolecules. SEC-MALLS analysis shows that MUC5B has both a higher average (D) MW and (E) radius of gyration. *P = 0.05, ****P < 0.0001.