Fig. 3.

Effects of fatty acids on transcriptional profiles, cell hydrophobicity and hyphal formation. S. aureus MSSA 6538 (A), E. coli O157:H7 (B) or C. albicans DAY185 (C) was incubated with or without saw palmetto oil at 100 μg ml⁻¹, lauric acid (C12:0) at 20 μg ml⁻¹ or myristic acid (C14:0) at 20 μg ml⁻¹ for 6, 4 or 6 h at 37 °C with shaking at 250 rpm respectively. Transcriptional profiles were acquired by qRT‐PCR. Fold changes represent change in the transcriptions of treated vs. non‐treated controls. The experiment was conducted in duplicate (four qRT‐PCRs were tested per gene). *P < 0.05 vs. non‐treated controls (None). The cell surface hydrophobicity was determined after incubation for 24 h at 37 °C with or without saw palmetto oil, lauric acid (C12:0) and myristic acid (C14:0) in S. aureus 6538 (D), E. coli O157:H7 (E) or C. albicans DAY185 (F). Inhibition of hyphal filamentation by fatty acids in C. albicans DAY185 after incubation for 24 h at 37 °C in PDB medium (G). The scale bar represents 50 µm. At least two independent cultures were performed for microscopic experiments, and at least 10 random positions were analysed.