Fig. 3

Phagocytosis of isogenic strains overexpressing full-length or partially deleted elr operon by RAW macrophages. a) For all E. faecalis strains tested, the phagocytosis index (PI) was calculated as average ± SEM from three independent experiments. Statistical significance was measured by ANOVA and Dunnett's multiple comparison test, ***P< 0.001. b) Adhesion index (AI) of E. faecalis strains after treatment with cytochalasin D. AI was calculated as follows: AI = % of GFP-labeled macrophages after infection with the mutant strain X 100/% of GFP-labeled macrophages after infection with the WT strain. Shown is the mean ± SEM from two independent experiments performed in duplicate. c) Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) showing E. faecalis adhesion. Micrographs of macrophages infected for 30 min with E. faecalis strains observed by electron scanning microscopy. The micrographs are representative of two independent experiments