FIGURE 5.

RpoS is required for persistence in mice. Retention of empty vector or rpoS-complementing plasmid by BbP1974 (WT+empty vector) and BbP1754 (rpoScomp) strains in tissues collected from infected mice 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 weeks post-infection. Retention was assessed by PCR of individual colonies obtained by semi-solid phase plating of (A) murine ear and skin minimally cultured in BSK-II without antibiotic and (B) larvae fed to repletion on infected C3H/HeJ mice at 4 week intervals beginning 4 weeks post-infection. Columns represent the average of at least 10 colonies per cultured tissue per time point. Numbers on x-axis indicate the number of weeks post-infection. p-Values for pairwise comparisons (WT+empty vector and rpoScomp at the same time point) were determined using a two-tailed t-test; ^∗p ≤ 0.05.