fig4

Figure 4. Dit promotes phage adsorption to EPS⁺ strains. (A): Assays on LM2345 and EPS⁺ transconjugant; (B): Assays on 1403S and EPS⁺ transconjugant. Adsorption assays were performed with wild-type and recombinant phages on isogenic EPS +/- strains. Wild-type phages adsorbed strongly to their native host, and the introduction of pEPS6073 decreased their adsorption (P < 0.05). Dit exchange resulted in poorer adsorption to each native host but strong adsorption to the pEPS6073⁺ transconjugant of the native host (P < 0.05). Recombinant phages adsorbed poorly to non-native hosts, although adsorption was slightly increased on the non-native host when pEPS6073 was present (not statistically significant). Statistical comparisons conducted to support the various conclusions have been annotated using connecting lines to explicitly show the pairwise calculations performed. Statistically significant comparisons are marked with asterisks that indicate the level of statistical significance according to the following scale: (* P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, *** P < 0.001). Comparisons that are not statistically significant are labeled ns. Wild-type phages were not tested against non-native host strains. Average of three independent trials. Dit: Distal tail protein; Error bars: sample standard deviation; EPS: exopolysaccharides.