Fig 1. Effect of RNAi of serine peptidases on T. brucei cell growth in vitro.
Two independent RNAi cell lines were induced with 1 μgml-1 tetracycline (open symbols) or left untreated (filled symbols). Cells were counted every 24 hours, diluted down to 1 x 105 cells ml-1 and the cumulative cell number calculated. Insets: Target transcript levels in RNAi cell lines. Insets (upper left): Total RNA was isolated from non-induced (solid bars) or tetracycline-induced (striped bars) cells and used to make cDNA, which was used as a template in a real time PCR reaction using gene-specific primers (S2 Table). For cell lines in which multiple genes with non-identical sequences were targeted, PCR results for each target are shown. Results from three technical replicates are shown. Insets (lower right): For two targets, Western blots were done on lysates from control (-) or tetracycline induced (+) cells, using RNAi target protein-specific antibody (upper panel) or α-EF1-α (lower panel).