DCN and infection: Interestingly, although as mentioned above, no dbpA allele-specific differences were observed in joint colonization at 21 days post-infection (Table S1), DbpAN40-D10/E9, which binds to decorin and dermatan sulfate with the lowest affinity among the variants analyzed, promoted the greatest level of colonization of the tibiotarsus and knee at 28 days post-infection (Fig. 3).