FIG 3.

MIC test of HA against different bacteria and cross-inhibition assays between fungi and bacteria. (A) MICs of HA against different bacteria. Ampicillin was used as a control. (B) Differential inhibition of S. aureus (S. a) growth by the WT and mutant strains in cocultures. The spores of different Metarhizium strains were cocultured with S. aureus cells at different initial amounts in LB broth for 24 h. dWT, dead spores of WT strain. (C) Features of S. aureus colony formation after different treatments. The S. aureus cells (all at a final OD₆₀₀ of 0.2) were mixed with or without the WT and ΔMrHelA spores for inoculation on LB agar for 24 h. (D) Differential inhibition of the WT and mutant spore germinations by different bacteria. The spores of Metarhizium strains were cocultured with different bacteria for 12 h to determine the spore germination rate of each strain. Values are means and SD. The differences between samples were determined by two-tailed Student's t test. The asterisks above the values for the ΔMrHelA strain show the within-group difference between the WT/Comp and the ΔMrHelA strains. The asterisks below the WT values show the difference between the mock-treated control and individual bacterial treatment of the WT. *, P < 0.05; ***, P < 0.001; ****, P < 0.0001; NS, not significant.