FIG 8.

Monitoring chlamydial genomes from mice coinoculated with both plasmid-free and wild-type chlamydial organisms. Tissue samples from the same CBA/J mice (n = 5) intravaginally inoculated with Pf C. muridarum and intragastrically coinoculated with wild-type (red) Chlamydia 7 days after intravaginal inoculation as described in the Fig. 7 legend were also used for detecting chlamydial DNA using qPCR. The results are expressed as the log₁₀ chlamydial 16S rRNA (black bars) or mCherry (red bars) gene copy numbers, as shown along the y axis. Genital tissues include vagina/cervix (V), uterine horn (UH), and oviduct and ovary (O), while GI tissues include stomach, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, cecum, colon, and rectum tissues, as listed along the x axis.