Surface-Layer Protein A (SlpA) Is a Major Contributor to Host-Cell Adherence of Clostridium difficile
Figure 6
C. difficile adherence is inhibited by pre-coating host cells with surface layer protein preparations.
Total SLP protein from strain BI-17 (toxigenic) or strain M3 (non-toxigenic) were overlaid on C2BBE monolayers, and followed by adherence assays for the cognate C. difficile vegetative bacteria. For comparative purposes, data were converted to percent adjusted adherence, with adherence of the control (no added SLP) set to 100%; therefore, no error bars are shown. Asterisks indicate significant differences (p≤0.01). Epidemic-associated, ribotype 027 strains are shown as red bars, and non-toxigenic strains are shown as green bars.