InlA Promotes Dissemination of Listeria monocytogenes to the Mesenteric Lymph Nodes during Food Borne Infection of Mice
Figure 5
InlAm enhances spread to the mesenteric lymph nodes and spleen.
Female BALB mice were co-infected at night with a 1∶1 mixture of Lm InlAm and either wild type (wt) Lm EGDe or an inlA deletion mutant (ΔinlA) for a total inoculum of 5–7×108 CFU and the total number of each Listeria strain found in the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN), spleen, liver, and gall bladder was determined. Pooled data from at least two separate experiments are shown. In panel A, the data are plotted as competitive indices (CI) to show the ratio of either wt/InlAm or ΔinlA/InlAm recovered from each individual mouse at 60 hpi. The geometric mean for each group was compared to the theoretical value of 1.0 and the fold difference is shown in parentheses above. The actual number of CFU recovered in each mouse after wt (triangles) plus InlAm (squares) co-infection or ΔinlA (circles) plus InlAm are shown in panels B & C, respectively. Horizontal bars indicate mean values for each group; statistical significance was assessed by student's t test. The limit of detection in each tissue is marked by a dashed line.