Table 2. Verification of the E. chaffeensis infection status by nested PCR targeting to the transposon insertion sites in mutant pool infected dog blood.

Days post infection #
	Insertion site	0	2	5	7	9	12	14	16	19	21	29	35	44
Dog 1	Ech_0202	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋
	Ech_0230	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋
	Ech_0379	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋
	Ech_0480	₋	₊	₊	₊	₊	₊	₋	₊	₋	₋	₊	₊	₊
	Ech_0490	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₊	₊	₊	₋	₊	₋	₋
	Ech_0601	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₊
	Ech_0660	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋
	Ech_0760	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₊	₋	₋	₋	₊	₋	₋
Dog 2	Ech_0202	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋
	Ech_0230	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋
	Ech_0379	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋
	Ech_0480	₋	₊	₊	₊	₋	₋	₊	₋	₋	₋	₊	₊	₊
	Ech_0490	₋	₊	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋
	Ech_0601	₋	₋	₋	₋	₊	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋
	Ech_0660	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋
	Ech_0760	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₊	₊
Dog 3	Ech_0284	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₋	₊	₊	₊	₊	₊	₋	₊

^#The signs − and + refer to samples tested negative or positive by culture recovery and/or nested PCR, respectively.