Fig. 3. Reassortant viral populations in the ferret upper and lower respiratory tracts are distinct.
Heat map showing normalized beta diversity of viral populations in ferret lung and nasal turbinates (NT) (A). The inset shows a representative comparison between the tissues of ferrets F23 and F21, to indicate the position of NT and lung within the matrix. Normalized beta diversity is plotted in B with observed results (colored points) overlaid on the distribution of simulated data (gray violins) (n = 1000 simulations per ferret). Data are presented as violin plots featuring a box plot. Data are presented as violin plots featuring a box plot. The bounds of the box show the interquartile range and the center of the box shows the 50th percentile. Whiskers indicate 1.5 times the interquartile range and contain of the data for a normal distribution. The bounds of the violin plots indicate the minima and maxima of the entire dataset. One star indicates that observed data is above the 95th percentile of the distribution; two stars indicates that observed data is above the 99th percentile. C Immunohistochemistry images of ferret F23 NT and lung sections stained for WT (green) and VAR (red) viruses at day 3 post inoculation. Gray staining marks epithelial cell borders. Yellow coloring in merged images indicates the presence of both WT and VAR HA antigens in the same cell. Zoomed insets of both NT and lung sections are shown with white arrows indicating co-infected cells and yellow arrows indicating singly infected cells. Scale bars are 20 µm. Four fields were analyzed for each tissue section and representative images are depicted here. D Immunohistochemistry images of ferret F24 lung sections stained for nucleoprotein (red) and counterstained with hematoxylin. Scale bars are 20 µm. Four fields were analyzed for each tissue section and representative images are depicted here.