Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans H-NS promotes biofilm formation and alters protein dynamics of other species within a polymicrobial oral biofilm

Assessment of the influence of H-NS on A. actinomycetemcomitans cell morphology and monoculture biofilm formation. Atomic force microscopy was used to analyze the following A. actinomycetemcomitans strains, cultivated on agar at the indicated temperatures: D7S 30？°C (a), D7S hns 30？°C (b), D7S 37？°C (c), and D7S hns 37？°C (d). Arrows indicate examples of the released OMVs. Scale bars？=？500？nm. Crystal violet was used to quantify the biofilm formation of the strains D7S and D7S hns, respectively, after cultivation in 24-well cell culture plates for 3 days at 37？°C (e). Shown are the means of OD 590？nm？±？standard deviation (SD) for six experiments; *p？=？0.0169 for D7S vs. D7S hn