Figure 5.
The ΔramA mutant exhibits attenuated virulence in a neutropenic murine model of invasive aspergillosis. (A) Survival curve for neutropenic invasive aspergillosis model. Statistics were computed by Kruskal-Wallis analysis with Dunn's test for multiple comparisons. Asterisks indicate a statistically significant difference in survival (pΔramA = 0.035; p2xΔramA = 0.003) between WT and ΔramA-related strains. (B) Quantitative PCR (qPCR) analysis of fungal burden in murine lungs harvested on Day 3 post-inoculation. Measurements represent the overall mean fold qPCR signal (2−ΔCT) of 3 technical replicates ( ± SD) from each of 3 mice, normalized to the mean signal from 3 uninfected control (vehicle) mice. Statistics were computed by one-way ANOVA with Dunnett's test for multiple comparisons. (C) Serial sections from murine lungs stained with Gomori methenamine silver (GMS) stain (upper panels) and hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain (lower panels). Note the reduced hyphal outgrowth in GMS-stained lesions from lungs of mice inoculated with ΔramA strains. Scale bars represent 100 µm.