Fig. 4.

Survival of thiols-deficient mutants in macrophages. a Investigation of the survival of all double mutant relative to their parent strains in murine cell lines RAW264.7 at an MOI of~ 1:1. The ΔegtA-mshA double mutant was the most sensitive. b Further, investigation of its survival relative to its parent and complemented strains at an MOI of~ 10:1. The ΔegtA-mshA mutant was still the most sensitive. c This was also observed when human blood monocyte-derived macrophages (HBMM) were infected at an MOI of ~ 2.5:1 and 5:1 (data not shown), however at a later time point. The 0-h time-point represents the amount of mycobacteria added to the macrophages and the 4-h time point represents the amount of mycobacteria taken up by macrophages. For accuracy, the growth index (GI) was determined based on the amount of each ingested mycobacterial strain (4-h time point). The average GI indicated at the top of each whisker, was determined by dividing the CFUs obtained at the defined time point by the CFUs obtained at the 4-h time point (that indicates the uptake amount of each stain). Data are representative of three replicates