Fig. 7.
Effect of Aha1−/− expression on infectivity in vitro. Bone marrow-derived macrophages were infected with L. donovani Aha1+/+, Aha1+/+/+, Aha1−/− and Aha1−/−/+ parasites at a ratio of 1:10. After 4 h, free parasites were removed and the infected macrophage cultures were further incubated at 37 °C and 5% CO2 for 44 h. The gDNAs were isolated after 4.5 h (a) and after 48 h (b), and subjected to qPCR. The parasite load was calculated as percentage of wild-type parasite load. Six biological replicates, each measured in triplicate (n = 18); **p ≤ 0.01; ***p ≤ 0.001 (paired Student’s t test)