The <i>S</i>. <i>suis</i> serotype 2 capsular polysaccharide is required for resisting the bactericidal effect of whole blood regardless of strain background.

<p>Capacity of wild-type strains and non-encapsulated mutants to resist the bactericidal effect of murine whole blood after 4 h of incubation. Percentage of bacterial killing was calculated in comparison to bacteria in plasma alone. Data represent the mean ± SEM from four independent experiments. n.d. denotes not detected. *** (<i>p</i> < 0.001) indicates a significant difference between wild-type strains (P1/7 or 89–1591) and their mutants (Δ<i>cpsF</i> or Δ<i>neuC</i>).