Incidence of stalk and/or holdfast detection in wild-type and ΔpstS B. subvibrioides.

Wild-type and ΔpstS strains of B. subvibrioides were cultured in triplicate and labeled with fluorescently-conjugated Wheat Germ Agglutinin lectin, followed by phase contrast and epifluorescence microscopy. Cells were scored on whether they had a detectable stalk, holdfast, both, or neither. A) Percentage of the total population with a detectable holdfast. B) Percentage of non-stalked or stalked cells with a detectable holdfast. C) Percentage of total population that had no visible polar structure (i.e. no stalk or holdfast), stalk, holdfast, or both. Deletion of pstS led to an increase in stalk incidence, but the majority of stalked cells had no detectable holdfast.