Figure 3

B. cenocepacia K56-2 interaction with 16HBE14o- derived GPMVs. B. cenocepacia K56-2 adhesion to 16HBE14o- cells and GPMVs (A). Adhesion assays were performed for 30 min against 16HBE14o- GPMVs and against cells as a comparison method. B. cenocepacia adhere more efficiently to purified GPMVs than to cells. Also, adhesion percentage to GPMVs is higher than the adhesion to the original cells. (****P < 0.0001; **P < 0.01). Error bars indicate the standard deviation. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of B. cenocepacia K56-2 cells (B), bacteria-GPMV adhesion (C), and bacteria-16HBE14o—cell adhesion (D). Bacteria are highlighted by red arrows and GPMVs by blue ones. A scale bar is presented in every SEM image. Expression of B. cenocepacia K56-2 genes (E). Transcription levels of B. cenocepacia K56-2 BCAM02418, BCAM0729, BCAL1829, BCAL293, BCAL3098, BCAM1570 and BCAM2531 were obtained by qRT-PCR from bacteria adherent to 16HBE14o- cells and GPMVs (30 min of contact). Results were normalized to expression of the housekeeping sigA gene. Expression levels are represented as relative values in comparison to the expression levels in standard LB growth. All the results are from three independent experiments. Differences between both groups of genes were found to be non-significant (P > 0.05).