Iron homeostasis impacts vaginal persistence. (A) Differential expression of genes in iron acquisition and iron export pathways. (B) ICP-MS analysis of vaginal lavage fluid from naive and colonized mice (n = 3 per group) and TSB. Error bars represent SDs. (C to K) RT-qPCR confirmation of select RNA sequencing iron homeostasis hits. (L) Cocolonization with WT USA300 and the ΔfhuCBG mutant. (M) Cocolonization with WT USA300 and the isdB::Tn mutant. Statistical analysis using one-way ANOVA (B), unpaired t test (C to K), and two-way ANOVA with Sidak’s multiple-comparison test (L and M). **, P < 0.005; ***, P < 0.0005; ****, P < 0.00005.