Adherence of the wild-type <i>S</i>. <i>aureus</i> strain SH1000 and its derivative <i>msr</i> mutant cells to A549 human lung epithelial cells.

<p>A total of 5X10⁵ bacterial cells were used in these assays. The left light bar in each panel represents the ratios of the <i>msr</i> mutant relative to wild-type SH1000 in the mixture used to infect the A549 cells. The right dark bar in each panel represents the ratios of the <i>msr</i> mutant in the mixture that adhered to the A549 cells after 1 h of incubation. Values indicate the average of three independent experiments ± standard deviation (* significant at <i>p</i>≤.05).