Results comparing wild type and cna mutant strains indicated that cna+ strains caused considerable more septic arthritis symptoms in a mice model and outnumbered the mutant strain 24 h after inoculation in a rat model of infective endocarditis (Patti et al., 1994; Hienz et al., 1996; Nienaber et al., 2011). This evidence concerns the gene PPP3CA and infective endocarditis.