Role of ECP in adherence of UPEC to HeLa and HTB-4 cells.

<p>(A) Comparison of adherence levels of wild-type strain CFT073 and isogenic <i>ecpA</i> mutant to HeLa and HTB-4 cells at 37°C, as determined by plating out serial dilutions of adhering bacteria. (B) Comparison of invasion capabilities of HeLa and HTB-4 cells by the indicated UPEC strains as determined by the gentamycin-protection assay. For panels A and B standard deviations are represented by error bars and represent the average of all the results obtained from the 3 experiments performed. *, Statistically significant with respect to the wild-type strain (<i>p</i><0.05). (C) Giemsa staining of HeLa cell monolayers infected for 2 h with UPEC CFT073 strains showing reduction of adherence in the isogenic <i>ecpA</i> mutant. Images were taken with a 60× objective.