Fig 9. Disruption of bacterial K⁺ homeostasis results in attenuation of Mtb growth in vivo.

(A) Mtb ΔceoBC mutant is attenuated for colonization in a murine infection model. C57BL/6J WT mice were infected with WT, ΔceoBC, or ceoBC* (complemented mutant) Mtb, and lung homogenates plated for CFUs 14 or 28 days post-infection. p-values were obtained with a Mann-Whitney statistical test. * p<0.05, ** p<0.01. (B) Lung pathology in infected mice. Lungs obtained from infected animals 14 or 28 days post-infection were fixed and processed for hematoxylin and eosin staining. Scale bar 200 μm.