Fig 3.
Tissue colonization and persistence by wild-type, mutant, and complementation strains. Fifteen 5-week-old SPF chickens were challenged with E058 (△), E058ΔsmpB (*), E058ΔssrA (○), E058ΔsmpBΔssrA (□), and ReE058ΔsmpBΔssrA (+) strains (108 CFU). Each data point represents a single sample from an individual bird, and data are presented as the log10 CFU/g of tissue. Horizontal bars indicate the mean log10 CFU/g values. The data were analyzed using a Mann-Whitney test (*, P < 0.05; ***, P < 0.0001).