FIGURE 10.

Absence of CdhA or its catalytic CHAP domain attenuates GAS for virulence in an experimental mouse intraperitoneal infection model. A, effects due to the deletion of the entire cdhA gene or its CHAP domain-specific region (C-terminal 55 residues) on GAS virulence in mice were observed for M1-WT, M1ΔCdhA, M1CdhAΔC55, and M1ΔCdhA::cdhA GAS strains using the mouse intraperitoneal infection model. Survival/mortality curves for all strains were monitored for 10 days and statistically evaluated and plotted by the log rank test using GraphPad Prism 4 software. The SHAM-infected mice survived throughout the observation period (not shown). B, bacterial load determined in different organs (lung, liver, spleen, and kidney) from three infected animals from each group (10 mice each) sacrificed on day 4. *, p < 0.001; **, p < 0.05.