Fig. 6.
Real time quantitative RT-PCR analysis of Subfamily II tpr message levels in treponemes harvested at peak orchitis from rabbits experimentally infected with the Nichols, Sea 81-4, Chicago and Bal 73-1 strains of Treponema pallidum. Message levels were correlated with the distribution of G residues within tprE, G and J promoters reported in Fig. 3. Reported values represent the mean ± SE of triplicate assays for each cDNA sample; number of copies of tpr transcript are expressed per 100 copies of the 47 kDa lipoprotein message. The Sea 81-4 tprJ locus harbors a tprG/J hybrid molecule, which required specific primers (Table 1).