Fig. 6

Deletion of STM3254 leads to reduced infection numbers in C57/BL6J mice over time. Two groups of female C57/BL6J mice (n = 6 each group) were fed the PD or the WD and orally infected with a 1:1 ratio of ST4/74 and ST4/74 ΔSTM3254::Kan^R, and on group (n = 6) was fed the PD and infected with a 1:1 ration of ST4/74 ΔSTM3254::Kan^R and ST4/74 ΔSTM3254::Kan^R /pBR-3254. The total inoculum was 5 × 10⁷ CFU/mouse. Stool samples were taken every 24 h up to 3 days (a, c, e). The CFU per mg feces of each strain are shown over time. The numbers of ST4/74 (circles) ST4/74 ΔSTM3254::Kan^R (squares) (or ST4/74 ΔSTM3254::Kan^R (circles) and ST4/74 ΔSTM3254::Kan^R /pBR-3254 (squares) recovered in each mouse after co-infection are depicted. Solid horizontal lines indicate mean values while dashed lines lines represent the detection limit for each sample. b, d, f) CIs depict the ratio of ST4/74 and ST4/74 ΔSTM3254::Kan^R, or ST4/74 ΔSTM3254::Kan^R and ST4/74 ΔSTM3254::Kan^R /pBR-3254). The geometric mean for each group was compared to the theoretical value of 1.0 and the fold-change difference is indicated in parentheses. Significant differences (p value ≤0.05) are indicated by asterisks