Figure 8.
Organ burden analysis of mice infected with F. tularensis smpB or ssrA mutants. C3H/HeN mice were infected by intranasal route with 108 CFU of the F. tularensis smpB B255 mutant or with 105 CFU of the WT strain. The infected mice were sacrificed at the indicated post-infection time points, and their organs (lung [A], liver [B], or spleen [C]) were collected. The organs were homogenized, and serial dilutions of the resident bacteria were spread on MH Chocolate Agar plates for CFU determination. Two independent experiments with 5 mice per time point per bacterial strain were performed, and the data were combined. The bars indicate mean CFU values. The difference between mutant and WT strains was significant for all organs at day 9 post-infection (p<0.01).