Figure 3.
TgAP2X-5 depletion has a drastic effect on in vivo virulence. (A) Parasite growth was assayed for parental, iKD TgAP2X-5 and iKD TgAP2X-5 complemented strains under ATc treatment for 24 h. The number of parasite per vacuole was scored for a minimum of 100 vacuoles and the average number of parasite is represented in this graph. A Student’s t-test was performed, ns P > 0.05; mean ± s.d. (n = 3). (B) Host cell invasion assay. Parental, iKD TgAP2X-5 and iKD TgAP2X-5 complemented strains pretreated with ATc were allowed to invade host cell for 90 min and then fixed and processed for a two-color invasion assay. The experiment was performed three-times in triplicate yielding nine measurements. A Student’s t-test was performed, ns P > 0.05; ***P < 0.001; mean ± s.d. (C) Survival of mice infected with parental, iKD TgAP2X-5 and iKD TgAP2X-5 complemented strains was determined for 15 days under ATc treatment. Mice were infected with 2.106 parasites intraperitoneally.