Figure 9. AsrR is associated with pathogenesis in a mouse intravenous infection model.
Enterococcal tissue burdens in kidneys (A) and livers (B) of BALB/c mice infected intravenously with 1×109 cells of the E. faecium HM1070 (circle), ΔasrR (square), and ΔasrR::asrR (triangle) strains. Groups of 10 mice were killed and necropsied 24 h, 72 h, and 168 h postinfection. The ΔasrR strain showed statistically significant increase of bacterial burdens in kidney and liver tissues at 168 h following injection, as compared to the parental and complemented strains. The results, expressed as log10 CFU per gram of tissue, represent the values recorded separately for each mouse. Horizontal bars represent the geometric means and significant differences are indicated (**).