FIG. 6.
BKD is required for virulence in vivo. Exponential-phase cultures of WT or BKD-1 mutant bacteria (5 × 105 CFU per mouse) were used to infect female C57BL/6 mice intraperitoneally. Spleens and livers were harvested and homogenized 24 and 72 hpi. Bars represent the geometric means of recovered bacterial CFU in each injection group. Dashed lines represent the limit of detection. Statistically significant differences between samples were determined using the Mann-Whitney test in GraphPad Prism 5 software and are represented by asterisks (*, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01).