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. 2015 Feb 13;9(2):e0003513. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003513

Fig 2. Complement-mediated killing of bacteria in the A. stephensi mosquito midgut.

Fig 2

(A) Standard plate counting of bacteria isolated from whole midgut contents of mosquitoes. Mosquitoes that were fed on a NHS-containing blood meal (black bars) showed significantly lower levels of bacterial counts in the midguts than HIS-fed mosquitoes (grey bars; at 30 and 90 min PBF) or the sugar-fed mosquitoes (white bar, 0 min). Also, at the 24h time point significantly lower levels of bacteria in the midguts of NHS-fed mosquitoes were seen (note the different scale). Significantly higher levels of bacteria were also observed in HIS- and NHS-fed mosquitoes than in sugar-fed mosquitoes. (B) The major bacterial strains isolated from midguts of mosquitoes fed on NHS or HIS (E. cloacae) containing blood meal at 24 h PBF were tested for their resistance to complement-mediated killing in-vitro. The two strains grew equally well in HIS after a 1h incubation at 37°C. Also, both strains were killed equally well in MgEGTA containing serum and in NHS. In MgEGTA serum the classical pathway is blocked.