A refined model of how Yersinia pestis produces a transmissible infection in its flea vector
Fig 2
The three-zone colonization of the proventriculus.
Fluorescence microscopy images of infected proventriculi taken one day post-infection. The images were modified using Adobe Photoshop to highlight bacteria (in blue) and the proventriculus (in green). The proventriculus contained Y. pestis in the anterior and posterior spine-bearing regions, and the posterior spineless region of the proventriculus—the so-called stomodaeum valve that telescopes with the midgut (A and C). The red arrowheads indicate a “green buffer zone”; i.e. a central spine-bearing region with no (A), few (B) or some (C) bacteria.