Fig 1. Bacterial colonization of tsetse’s midgut, and the effect on fly survival.

Distinct groups of newly emerged adult wild-type (Gmm^WT) and aposymbiotic (Gmm^Apo) females were colonized with 1x10³ CFU of either Kosakonia cowanii Zambiae (Kco_Z) or Sodalis (Sgm), and then bacterial load and fly survival was measured. (A) Average number (±SEM) of bacterial CFUs per tsetse gut per group per time point. n≥5 individuals per group per timepoint. (B) Kaplan-Meier plot depicting survival of Gmm^WT and Gmm^Apo females colonized with either Kco_Z or Sgm. Infection experiments were performed using three distinct biological replicates (n = 25 flies per replicate). No significant difference in survival was observed between any of the fly groups (p = 0.88; log-rank test).