Figure 5.

CFTR ablation leads to rapid larval death and uncontrolled bacterial expansion. (A) Cftr mrophants at 30 h post-fertilization were infected with 300 CFU of GFP-expressing M. fortuitum via caudal vein injection and embryo survival was monitored over a 12 day period. N = 20–25 embryos/group. Statistical analysis was completed using the log-rank (Mantel-Cox) statistical test for survival curves. Data shown is the merge of three independent experiments. (B) Bacterial burden was quantified by fluorescent pixel count (FPC) determination using ImageJ software, with each data point representing an individual embryo. Each group was normalized against the wild-type cohort at 2 days post-infection. Error bars represent standard deviation. Statistical significance was determined by Student′s t-test. Plots represent a pool of three independent experiments containing ~20–25 embryos per group. (C) Representative images of wild-type (WT) and CFTR depleted (cftr) embryos infected with 300 CFU of GFP-expressing M. fortuitum at 2 days post-infection. Scale bars represent 1 mm. (D) The proportion of embryos with bacterial cords and the average number of cords per infected embryo at 2 and 4-days post-infection. Error bars represent standard deviation. Data shown is the merge of three independent experiments. Statistical significance was determined by Student′s t-test. (E) The proportion of embryos with abscesses and the average number of abscesses per infected embryo at 2 and 4-days post-infection. Error bars represent standard deviation. Data shown is the merge of three independent experiments. Statistical significance was determined by Student′s t-test. (F) The proportion of embryos with granulomas and the average number of granulomas per infected embryo at 2 and 4-days post-infection. Error bars represent standard deviation. Data shown is the merge of three independent experiments. Statistical significance was determined by Student′s t-test. *P ≤ 0.05, **P ≤ 0.01, ****P ≤ 0.0001.