Figure 2. Effect of persister cells on A. thaliana morbidity and mortality.

A. thaliana plants were infected with S. aureus persister cells, total population (at identical concentration as persister cells), and total population 10², in the presence and absence of cis-DA (310 nM). Controls consisted of ½ MS salts (−), cis-DA (310 nM) alone and ciprofloxacin (50 mg/L). A. thaliana morbidity 5 days post infection (A). A. thaliana mortality 7 days post infection (B). Results shown consist of a minimum of 5 experiments, using 8 plants per experiment. Lines indicate average. *Significant infection compared to (−), and cis-DA (P < 0.001); **Significant infection compared to: (−), cis-DA, and equivalent treatment without cis-DA (P < 0.01); as indicated by one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s multicomparison test.