Figure 7.

Effect of the OCH1 silencing on the Sporothrix schenckii virulence in Galleria mellonella.

Notes: (A) Groups containing 10 larvae were injected with 1×10⁵ yeast-like cells, and mortality was recorded daily for 15 days. PBS refers to an animal group injected with 10 µL of PBS, included as a control. The Kaplan–Meier plots were generated with the cumulative data of three independent experiments; therefore, each survival curve contains data from 30 animals. The statistical analysis showed no differences across the WT, WT^H1, and WT^H2 strains (P=0.804), but the survival curves generated with the silenced strains were significantly different to that associated with WT strain (P<0.05). (B) CFUs isolated from larvae infected with the tested fungal strains. Upon the animal death was registered, CFUs present in the hemolymph were quantified by serial dilutions in plates containing YPD, pH 7.8, and incubated at 37°C. No significant differences were observed (P=0.566).

Abbreviations: CFU, colony-forming unit; WT, wild type.