Fig. 4
Growth characteristics of ST378 isolates. a Growth curves of S. epidermidis isolates in the liquid TSB medium. The mean growth curve of three replicates is shown. Statistical significance of the time to reach OD 0.1 between the two groups was determined by Welch's t test (N = 46 t(29.96) = −5.0064, P = 2.295 × 10-5). b Colony size for the different isolates after 24 h growth on sheep blood plates. Scatter dot plot with averages and standard deviations of 89–182 colonies per isolate are shown. The gray zone corresponds to a colony radius < 100 µm, which was the detection limit of our setup. Statistical significance between the two groups was determined by Welch's t test (N = 1947 t(1587.8) = −19.634, P < 2 × 10−16). Group I and group II isolates are indicated in blue and red, respectively. Dark red indicates the clinical isolate retrieved from the blood culture. The red star refers to the monophyletic cluster formed by the three isolates with delayed growth curves and smallest colonies at 24 h. ****P < 0.0001
