Figure 2. Within-host dominance mirrors the capacity of MCMV strains to ligate Ly49H.
A. Ly49H reporter cell assay. MEF were infected with K181 (positive control) or the C4 strains of MCMV and used to stimulate the Ly49H reporter cell line BWZ-HD12. The percent maximal β-galactosidase production was quantified relative to the PMA/ionomycin control (stippled bar). Both C4A and C4B stimulated β-galactosidase production by reporter cells, whereas C4C and C4D infected cells failed to stimulate β-galactosidase expression. B. Multi-step growth curves for the C4 strains of MCMV. MEF were infected with an MOI of 0.01 and replication rates assessed by plaque assay over a six day period. All viral strains replicated to similar levels in MEF.