Figure 7.

Inhibition of autophagy with siATG5 reverses the PCV2 replication promotion induced by OTA in PK-15 cells. PCV2-infected cells were incubated with or without ATG5 siRNA. The cells were then assayed for the expression levels of (a) ATG5 and β-actin (loading control). The data are presented as means±S.E. of three independent experiments. Statistical significance compared with the control is indicated by *P<0.05 and **P<0.01. PCV2-infected cells were transfected with ATG5-specific siRNA or a control siRNA and incubated with OTA (0.1 μM) for 48 h. Cells were assayed for (b) expression levels of LC3, Cap and β-actin (loading control), (c) PCV2 viral titers, (d) PCV2 viral DNA copies, and (e) the number of infected cells, as described in Materials and Methods. The data are presented as means±S.E. of three independent experiments. Statistical significance compared with the control is indicated by *P<0.05 and **P<0.01. Statistical significance compared with OTA is indicated by ^#P<0.05 and ^##P<0.01