FIG 2.

eSI-Pf infection induces formation of an attenuated small-colony variant. (A) eSI-Pf infection of P. aeruginosa induced formation of the SCV. This occurred in a phage concentration-dependent manner. (B) Mice with a burn skin injury were infected with SCV. The SCV was able to colonize the injury site but did so less efficiently than PAO1 WT. (C) The SCV showed impaired dissemination to the spleen and the liver. (D) Kaplan Meier survival curves of mice infected with the SCV versus PAO1 WT showed that the SCV is attenuated in the mouse burn model. (E) The SCV overproduced pyoverdine and pyocyanin pigments in vitro. (F and G) The SCV showed reduced motility (F) and protease secretion (G) compared to the PAO1 WT. Student's t test was used to analyze data in panels B, C, and E to G; a Mantel-Cox test was used for the panel D data. Each dot is a biological replicate. Errors bars represent the standard errors of the means.