FIG 6.

Downregulation of furinA expression decreases the M. marinum burden and the T cell marker cd247 mRNA level in an experimental low-dose mycobacterial infection. A latent mycobacterial infection was induced with a low-dose M. marinum inoculate. (A) Survival of adult furinA^td204e/+ (n = 29) and WT (n = 22) zebrafish was monitored for 9 weeks. A log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test was used for the statistical comparison of differences. The data were collected from a single experiment. (B) The M. marinum burden of furinA^td204e/+ mutants (n = 17 to 20) and WT controls (n = 13 to 18) was quantified with DNA qRT-PCR at 4 and 9 wpi. Bacterial load is represented as the median of total bacterial copies (log₁₀). M. marinum quantifications were run as technical duplicates. (C) The relative expression of Th cell markers (cd247, tbx21, gata3, foxp3a, and rorca) was quantified with qRT-PCR in furinA^td204e/+ mutants (n = 18 to 21) and WT controls (n = 18) at 9 wpi. Gene expressions were normalized to eef1a1l1 expression and represented as a scatter dot plot and median. Expression analyses were run as technical duplicates. In panels B and C, a two-tailed Mann-Whitney test was used in the statistical comparison of differences.