Figure 4.

The dual luciferase plasmids do not affect B. burgdorferi acquisition efficiency. Groups of ~200 naïve Ixodes scapularis larvae were fed to repletion on mice infected with B. burgdorferi containing distinct luciferase plasmids. Subsets of individual fed larvae per B. burgdorferi clone were surface sterilized, crushed, and plated in solid BSKII containing RPA cocktail and 50 μg/ml streptomycin. Data points represent the number of colony forming units (CFUs) per individual fed larva. Uninfected larvae (CFU = 0) are represented as data points on the X-axis. No significant differences were detected across the data as determined with a one-way ANOVA.