About the Authors

Antonio Pinna

apinna@uniss.it

Affiliations Department of Surgical, Microsurgical and Medical Sciences, Section of Ophthalmology, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Sassari, Sassari, Italy

Speranza Masala

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Experimental and Clinical Microbiology, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy

Francesco Blasetti

Affiliation Department of Surgical, Microsurgical and Medical Sciences, Section of Ophthalmology, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy

Irene Maiore

Affiliation Department of Surgical, Microsurgical and Medical Sciences, Section of Ophthalmology, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy

Davide Cossu

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Experimental and Clinical Microbiology, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy

Daniela Paccagnini

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Experimental and Clinical Microbiology, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy

Giuseppe Mameli

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Experimental and Clinical Microbiology, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy

Leonardo A. Sechi

Affiliation Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Experimental and Clinical Microbiology, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy

Competing Interests

Co-author Leonardo Sechi is a PLOS ONE Editorial Board member. This does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE Editorial policies and criteria.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: AP SM FB IM DC DP GM LAS. Performed the experiments: AP SM FB IM DC DP GM LAS. Analyzed the data: AP SM FB LAS. Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: AP.