FIGURE 2.

Chromosome equivalents (CEQ) vs. CFU of non-replicating M. abscesuss cultures. (A) Nutrient-starved cultures. (B) Oxygen-starved cultures. CEQ/mL vs. CFU/mL for M. abscessus grown in phosphate buffered saline (see Figure 1A) and in sealed containers containing nutrient-rich broth (Figure 1B) are shown. CEQ were enumerated by using quantitative real-time PCR. Note: There appears to be an increase of CEQ/mL relative to CFU/mL in (A) during the first 3 days. The reason for this apparent growth remains to be determined. The experiments were carried out at least two times independently in duplicate and mean values with standard deviations are shown.