The pH-Responsive PacC Transcription Factor of Aspergillus fumigatus Governs Epithelial Entry and Tissue Invasion during Pulmonary Aspergillosis
Figure 5
Aberrant morphology of A. fumigatus ΔpacC mutants impacts contact-mediated epithelial decay.
(A) Calcofluor white staining of A. fumigatus strains after growth for 17–18 hr in AMM (pH 6.5) at 28°C. (B) Quantification of calcofluor white-mediated fluorescence (arbitrary units) as measured from panel A. (C) Percentage, in cell wall extracts relative to total weight, of chitin. (D) Percentage, in cell wall extracts relative to total weight, of glucan. (E) Percentage, in cell wall extracts relative to total weight, of mannan. (F) Percent detachment, relative to PBS challenge, of A549 cells after co-incubation with cell wall extracts (10 µg/ml). Significance was calculated relative to PBS-challenged monolayers. (G) Percent aberrant morphology, amongst thimerosal-killed fungus-proximal ECs, per unit of hyphal length, relative to wild-type challenged monolayers. B and C: biological and technical triplicates. D and E: performed twice in triplicate. B, C and D: unpaired t test. E: 1-way ANOVA test. *** p<0.001 and ** 0.001<p<0.01.