Figure 4

The SP_1645:C1019T variation leads to lower resistance to surface phagocytosis in vitro and impaired competitiveness in vivo. (A) The TIGR4:19F strain exhibited higher resistance to neutrophil-mediated killing than the SpnYL101 strain (left two bars). The SP_1645 gene was replaced by a Janus cassette in the TIGR4:19F and the SpnYL101, and the resulting SP_1645- knock out strains showed no significant difference in resistance to neutrophil-killing (middle two bars). The TIGR4:19F strain carrying SP_1645 1019 T allele (SpnYL104) was less resistant to neutrophil- killing than did the SpnYL101 strain carrying the SP_1645 1019C allele (SpnYL105, right two bars). Error bars represent SEM. The p-values were derived from t-tests (n = 10 for each group). (B) Competitive index of the SpnYL104 (open circles) and the SpnYL105 (solid circles) relative to a capsular variant of the TIGR4 (TIGR4:19A) as the reference strain. Data on days 1, 4 and 7 post-challenge are shown. The horizontal bars are medians. p-values are derived from Mann–Whitney tests.