Briefly, overnight cultures of S. epidermidis were diluted 1:200 and inoculated into wells of polystyrene microtiter plates (200 μL per well) at 37°C for 24 h. At different time points (0, 6, 12, and 24 h), DNase I (Takara Bio, Kyoto, Japan) was added at 28 U/200 μL. After incubation, the wells were gently washed three times with 200 μL PBS and stained with 2% crystal violet for 5 min. Absorbance was determined at 570 nm. To determine whether saeRS affects cell death in biofilms, S. epidermidis cells were cultivated in FluoroDish (FD35-100, WPI, USA) as previously described [7]. Briefly, overnight cultures of S. epidermidis grown

in TSB medium were diluted 1:200, inoculated into dishes (2 mL per dish), and then incubated at 37°C for 24 h. The dishes were then carefully washed with PBS and stained with a LIVE/DEAD kit (containing SYTO9 and PI, Invitrogen Molecular Probes, USA) following the manufacturer’s instructions. SYTO9 stains #ATM Kinase Inhibitor randurls[1|1|,|CHEM1|]# viable bacteria green while PI stains dead bacteria red. Biofilms of S. epidermidis 1457

and SE1457ΔsaeRS were observed under a Leica TCS SP5 confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) using a 63 ×(zoom ×3) objective lens and the Z-stack composite confocal photomicrographs of viable cells, dead cells, and both cells (viable & dead) were generated by Leica LAS AF softwear (version 1.8.1). The fluorescence quantity of each stack was determained using ImageJ software. Electron microscopy For scanning electron microscopy (SEM), biofilms

A-1210477 were grown in TSB for 24 h at 37°C with fragments of an introvenous catheter, rinsed with PBS three times, fixed with a 2% (w/v) solution of glutaraldehyde prepared in phosphate-buffered saline, and then observed under a TECNAI- 12 field emission source instrument (Philips, Eindhoven, The Netherlands). For transmission electron microscopy (TEM), bacteria grown for 24 h were stained by mixing with a 1% (w/v) solution of uranyl acetate on an electron microscope grid covered with a carbon-coated Formvar film. S. epidermidis cells were observed using a Hitachi S-520 electron microscope (Hitachi, Tokyo, Japan). RNA extraction and microarray analysis Overnight cultures of S. epidermidis 1457 and 1457 ΔsaeSR were diluted 1:200 into fresh TSB and grown at 37°C to an OD600 of 3.0 (mid-exponential growth). Eight millilitres Verteporfin of bacterial cultures were pelleted, washed with ice-cold saline, and then homogenized using 0.1 mm Ziconia-silica beads in Mini-Beadbeater (Biospec) at a speed of 4800 rpm. The bacterial RNA was isolated using a QIAGEN RNeasy kit according to the standard QIAGEN RNeasy protocol. The microarray was manufactured by in situ synthesis of 14,527, 60-mer long oligonucleotide probes (Agilent, Palo Alto, CA, USA), selected as previously described [21]. It covers > 95% of all ORFs annotated in strains ATCC12228 (GeneBank accession number NC_004461), ATCC35984 (GeneBank accession number NC_002976), SE1457 (unpublished sequence).