Fig 4. oppA2tn survives comparably to wt during ex vivo blood culture.

(A) Darkfield microscopy (DF) and epifluorescence microscopy of Hoechst- (HS—Viable) and propidium iodide-stained (PI–Dead) wt, oppA2tn, and oppA2c spirochetes after 24 hrs ofincubation in whole mouse blood, 400x magnification. (B) Viable spirochetes recovered from blood culture assessed by semi-solid plating at timepoints 0, 24, and 48 hrs.