Fig 2. The interaction of Trichomonas vaginalis (Tv) and Lactobacillus gasseri (Lg) results on the reduction of bacterial population, parasite aggregation and upregulation on the expression of TvNlpC/P60 genes.
(A) Spotting single and mixed cultures of Tv and Lg on MRS-agar plates (selective for lactobacilli) shows that the population of Lg is reduced in numbers when in mixed culture with the protozoan. (B) The interaction of Tv and Lg results in co-aggregation. Parasites clump together in the presence of the bacteria (top left), but not in the absence of them (bottom left), after 8 hours of incubation. The diameter of twenty random cell clumps show that their sizes vary and tend to increase with time of incubation (right, *p-value < 0.01 from Games-Howell pairwise test). (C) RT-qPCR assays show the fold-change on the expression levels of TvNlpC/P60 genes across time, when comparing Tv in the presence versus absence of Lg. All TvNlpC/P60 genes of clan A and B were included in this analysis, except for TvNlpC_B1 which did not produce a significant CT value. Results show that all genes with measurable expression are upregulated in T. vaginalis when in mixed culture with lactobacilli at 8 hours.