Fig. 6
S. mutans competence phenotype assessed in simulated microgravity and normal gravity HARV cultures. Simulated microgravity and normal gravity HARV cultures, as well as a parallel static Falcon tube control culture, were each grown for 1.5 h in biofilm media prior to addition of 2 µg pOri23 plasmid DNA. All three cultures were then grown for 2.5 more hours followed by harvest and serial dilution plating on BHI agar ± 10 µg/ml erythromycin (selective antibiotic to monitor plasmid transformation). Transformation efficiency was calculated as the percentage of transformants (CFU/ml on BHI + erythromycin) among total viable cells (CFU/ml on BHI). Data represent the average of n = 3 independent experiments. Error bars = SEM
