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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Cell Microbiol. 2014 Jan 8;16(6):912–924. doi: 10.1111/cmi.12244

Figure 3. K/R mutant parasites exhibit defective motility in whole blood.

Figure 3

(A) Motility traces of K/R point mutants expressing mCherry and maintained in the absence (−Tet) or presence (+Tet) of tetracycline for 72 hours. Motility traces were done in undiluted whole blood. Each line traces the path of single cell for 11 seconds. Scale bar, 50 μm. (B) Quantification of distance traveled in 11 seconds by uninduced (−) and or Tet-induced (+, 72hpi) mCherry K/R mutants measured in whole blood. n = 66 for −Tet and n=50 for +Tet. (C) Mean squared displacement is plotted as a function of time interval for uninduced (−Tet, closed symbols) and Tet-induced (+Tet 72hpi, open symbols) mCherry K/R point mutants measured in blood. n = 52 cells for each culture. n=52 for −Tet and 50 for +Tet and error bars show standard error of the mean, p <0.0001. (D) Comparison of the mean squared displacement analyses for LC1 knockdown (KD) and K/R point mutants (K/R) grown in the absence (−) or presence (+) of tet for the indicated hours post induction (hpi). MSD analyses are from figures 1K-L, 2C and 3C, done in culture medium with (+MC) or without (−MC) methyl cellulose, or in whole blood (blood) as indicated. The culture medium –MC slope data are the average from figure 1L and 2C msd analyses. For each condition, the slope of the best fit line through the msd data is plotted as a percentage of the slope of the −Tet sample for that condition. A decrease in slope indicates decreased propulsive motility.