Figure 4

Differential expression and localisation of E. tenella subtilisin 2 (EtSUB2). (a) Quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR was carried out on different developmental stages of E. tenella, including merozoites (M), gametocytes (G), unsporulated (U) and sporulated oocysts (S). The relative transcript abundance of etsub1, etsub2 and etsub4 was determined relative to et18S small subunit ribosomal RNA for each developmental stage. **** indicates a statistically significant difference of P < 0.001 between one sample and all other samples. (b) Different developmental stages of E. tenella (M, G, U and S) and uninfected host (−) were analysed by Western blot using anti-EtSUB2 mouse sera (1 in 500). Molecular weight marker is listed to the left in kDa. (c) A section of E. tenella-infected chicken caeca (144 h post-infection) was analysed by immunofluorescence microscopy using anti-EtSUB2 mouse sera (1 in 200) and anti-GAM56 rabbit sera (1 in 1,000) with DAPI counterstaining. Scale bar = 5 μm.