Fig 2.
The bbb22 and bbb23 genes are expressed during murine infection. Spirochete RNA was isolated from log-phase (3 × 107 spirochetes/ml) B. burgdorferi clone B31 A3 grown in BSK II medium, pH 7.5, at 35°C (in vitro). Total RNA was isolated from spirochete-infected heart tissue harvested 2 weeks after intradermal inoculation of C3H/HeN mice with 1 × 105 B. burgdorferi clone B31 A3 spirochetes (in vivo). Expression of genes flaB, bbb22, and bbb23 was quantified by reverse transcriptase qPCR. The data are expressed as the number of bbb22 or bbb23 gene transcripts per number of flaB mRNA copies. The in vitro data represent the averages of two biological replicates. The in vivo data represent the averages of four biological replicates. Error bars represent the standard deviations from the means. All data sets were compared pairwise using the Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric rank test followed by Dunn's multiple-comparison test (GraphPad Prism 5.0) and were found to have no statistical difference.