Figure 4. Cryptococcus neoformans mutants behave similarly in Drosophila S2 cells.

(A) and murine J774.A1 macrophages (B). Host cells were infected with the following Cn strains: AI100-dsRed, XL1601, HMCA1, MCD16, XX44, AI81 and Cap59. The infected cells were then extensively washed at 3 h.p.i. and then fresh medium supplemented with 20 µg/ml fluconazole was added to each well. The infected cells were continuously incubated at 28°C (S2 cells) or at 37°C, 5% CO₂ (J774.A1 cells). At 3 and 15 h.p.i., the number of Cn cells present in the supernatant or within host cells was determined as described in the Materials and Methods section. Cn mutants display similar internalization patterns (A1 and B1), levels of Cn escape (A2 and B2) and relative intracellular replication efficiencies (A3 and B3) in S2 (A, left panel) and J774.A1 (B, right panel) cells. Data from the control (AI100-dsRed) were normalized to 100%. Data represent the means ± SD from at least three independent experiments. **, *** indicates significance at P<0.01 and P<0.001, respectively.