Fig. 7
From: Trx4, a novel thioredoxin protein, is important for Toxoplasma gondii fitness
Virulence assays of trx4-deficient parasites in RH strain and Pru strain. a Survival of Kunming mice that were infected by 2 × 102 dose of RH (n = 16 mice), RHΔtrx4 (n = 16 mice) or RHΔtrx4C (n = 8 mice). Survival curves of mice were analyzed by Gehan-Breslow-Wilcoxon test. **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001. b Survival of Kunming mice that were infected by 2 × 102 dose of RH (n = 10 mice) or secSgRHΔtrx4 (n = 10 mice). Survival curves of mice were analyzed by Gehan-Breslow-Wilcoxon test. ns., not significant c and d Survival of Kunming mice that were infected by low dose (2 × 102) of Pru strains (n = 20 mice/Pru strain; n = 20 mice/PruΔtrx4 strain; n = 10 mice/PruΔtrx4C strain) (c) or high dose (2 × 104) of Pru strains (n = 20 mice/Pru strain; n = 20 mice/PruΔtrx4 strain; n = 10 mice/PruΔtrx4C strain) (d). Survival curves of mice were analyzed by Gehan-Breslow-Wilcoxon test. **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001. e Representative IFA images of bradyzoite differentiation conducted in vitro using the Pru and PruΔtrx4 strains. Green, fluorescein-Dolichos biflorus agglutinin (DBA); red, rabbit anti-IMC1. Scale bar: 10 μm. (e) Differences in the proportion of bradyzoite differentiation between Pru and PruΔtrx4 strains when parasites were cultured at pH7.4 or pH8.2 for 2 days. The experiments were performed three independent times. The differences were analyzed by Student’s t test. n.s., not significant