Figure 1

Virus load and pathology of disease responders. PMCV RNA level and pathology score in heart tissue of challenged fish over the time course of infection. The three stages of disease (early = 2–4 wpi, mid = 6 wpi and late = 8–10 wpi) are indicated on top of the figure, as explained in Results. Relative quantification of PMCV by qPCR is given as fold change of viral transcripts relative to the median levels of 0 wpi samples set to 1. Individual values are shown as dots and colored according to the level of CMS pathology (histopathology score level based on atrium; green = score 0, yellow = 1, orange = 2, red = 3). Significant differences in viral load between high responder fish (HR, orange and red dots) and low responder fish (LR, green and yellow dots) from mid and late stages are marked with asterisks (t-test on log-transformed values, p < 0.01). Overlapping dots were plotted beside each other.