TABLE 6.

S. Enteritidis deposition in eggs and colonization in ovaries^a

Strain	No. of ovaries with positive results/total no. of ovaries (% positive) on indicated dpi		No. of eggs with positive results/total no. of eggs (% positive) on indicated dpi										Avg % positive	Total no. of eggs with positive results/total no. of eggs (% positive)
	5	10	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
WT	5/6 (83.3)	2/6 (33.3)	1/5 (20.0)	1/5 (20.0)	1/5 (20.0)	1/3 (33.3)	0/6 (0.0)	0/2 (0.0)	0/2 (0.0)	0/1 (0.0)	0/2 (0.0)	0/4 (0.0)	9.33	4/35 (11.4)
ΔvirK	1/6 (16.7)	2/6 (33.3)	4/8 (50.0)	1/7 (14.3)	1/6 (16.7)	0/4 (0.0)	0/6 (0.0)	0/4 (0.0)	0/3 (0.0)	0/4 (0.0)	0/4 (0.0)	0/6 (0.0)	8.1	6/52 (11.5)
ΔvirK pWSKVirK	3/6 (50.0)	1/6 (16.7)	1/6 (16.7)	2/8 (25.0)	0/3 (0.0)	2/5 (40.0)	2/8 (25.0)	0/6 (0.0)	0/3 (0.0)	0/3 (0.0)	0/2 (0.0)	0/7 (0.0)	10.7	7/51 (13.7)
ΔybjX	3/6 (50.0)	4/6 (66.7)	2/6 (33.3)	1/7 (14.3)	1/2 (50.0)	2/4 (50.0)	2/4 (50.0)	1/4 (25.0)	1/1 (100)	0/2 (0.0)	1/3 (33.3)	0/4 (0.0)	35.5*	11/37 (29.7)
ΔybjX pWSKYbjX	3/6 (50.0)	2/6 (33.3)	2/3 (66.7)	0/2 (0.0)	0/2 (0.0)	0/3 (0.0)	0/2 (0.0)	0/4 (0.0)	0/2 (0.0)	0/1 (0.0)	0/2 (0.0)	0/4 (0.0)	6.7	2/25 (8.0)
ΔvirK ΔybjX	1/6 (16.7)	2/6 (33.3)	2/5 (40.0)	1/3 (33.3)	2/3 (66.7)	1/2 (50.0)	0/3 (0.0)	0/2 (0.0)	0/1 (0.0)	0/1 (0.0)	0/1 (0.0)	0/2 (0.0)	19.0	6/23 (26.1)

^aEggs were collected at the same time daily during the infection challenge of 21-week-old laying hens with 5 × 10⁹ CFU of S. Enteritidis strains. Data for eggs with positive results are in boldface. The number of hens with positive ovary colonization results is shown as the fraction of the total number of hens tested at each of two tissue collection time points. A single asterisk denotes a significant difference from the results determined for the WT strain in the average numbers of eggs with positive results on the indicated dpi (%) and in the amounts of eggs with positive results on the indicated dpi (P < 0.05).