Calibration curves for bacterial trapping in finger-chewed gums.

<p>Calibration curves for bacterial trapping after finger-chewing known numbers of bacteria into gum. Results are obtained from three independent experiments with separately cultured bacteria. Data are corrected for losses of bacteria due to adhesion to the glove-finger and during water rinsing. Error bars denote the standard deviation over triplicate experiments and linear relations are presented by the equations with their corresponding correlation coefficients. A. The number of CFUs retrieved as a function of the numbers of CFUs finger-chewed in a gum piece for the four different bacterial strains, obtained by sonication of chewed pieces of gum, molded into a standard dimension and followed by sonication and agar-plating. B. The number of threshold cycles (Ct) at fixed relative fluorescence units as a function of the total number of bacteria finger-chewed in a gum piece for the four different bacterial strains, obtained after dissolving the gum in chloroform and TE buffer and performing qPCR.