FIG 8.

Bacterial CFU enumeration of Salmonella in competition experiments at 8 days postinfection in the presence of gallstones. Mice were given intraperitoneal injections containing 10⁴ CFU that represent an equal mixture of WT cells marked with streptomycin resistance and (A) ΔwcaM::Kan, (B) ΔcsgA::Kan, (C) ΔyihO::Cam, or (D) ΔbcsE::Cam mutant cells. The limit of detection was 100 CFU/ml. The dotted line represents a completely neutral competitive index. Wilcoxon's signed rank test was used to determine significant differences between mutant strains and the WT (*, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; ***, P < 0.001). The bars indicate the means of the groups. Positive values represent the mutant outcompeting the WT.