Drosophila melanogaster as an Animal Model for the Study of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm Infections In Vivo
Figure 5
The role of Pel EPS during in vivo biofilm formation in Drosophila.
Representative images of P. aeruginosa pCHAP6656-infected crops. (A) PAO1pCHAP6656-infected crops contain individual bacterial cells, a number of small microcolonies (grey arrows) and two large microcolonies (white arrows). (B) PelB::luxpCHAP6656-infected crops contain individual bacterial cells and no small or large microcolonies. (C) PAZH13pCHAP6656-infected crops contain some individual bacterial cells, and five large microcolonies (white arrows). At least 3 infected crops were examined for each strain. Scale bar equals 100 µM. (D) Quantitative analysis of microcolony formation in response to infection with PAO1 and relevant mutant strains. At least 3 infected crops were examined for each strain. Data presented is the frequency of individual bacterial cells, small or large bacterial microcolonies in a total of 12 fields of view. (E) Expression of pel and psl EPS genes during oral infection relative to acute infection. Values are mean +/− SEM from triplicate qRT-PCR experiments on RNA isolated from two independent Drosophila infections.