Fig. 4: The origin of extracellular DNA surrounding biofilms.
a Image of infected murine tissue. Both immune cells and bacteria can be seen as green cells. Eukaryotic DNA was stained purple with antibodies. b Murine immune cells can be seen as large green cells surrounding a large biofilm aggregate. c Antibody stained eDNA can be seen surrounding the biofilm aggregate. Scalebar in (a–c) is 10 µm. d Schematic drawing of the proposed mechanism behind the large amount of eukaryotic eDNA around biofilms. Leukocytes, in this case PMNs, are lysed by bacteria in the aggregates, resulting in expulsion of DNA from the lysed PMNs. Adapted from45 with permission.
