ATG5 Is Essential for ATG8-Dependent Autophagy and Mitochondrial Homeostasis in Leishmania major
Figure 7
Promastigote differentiation and infectivity.
(A) Proportion of metacyclic promastigotes in stationary phase cultures, assessed using the PNA assay. Values shown are the means ± SD from three independent experiments. *, differed significantly (p<0.05). (B) Western blot analysis of extracts of 107 promastigotes at stationary phase of growth probed with α-HASPB. α-Cysteine Synthase was used as a loading control [56]. (C) Infectivity and survival of promastigotes in peritoneal macrophages in vitro, infected at a ratio 5∶1, with the infection rates being assessed after 1 and 5 days. *, differed significantly (p<0.01). (D) Lesion progression in BALB/c mice inoculated with 5×105 stationary phase promastigotes. Values shown are the means ± SD from 5 mice. *, infection level of Δatg5 differed significantly from WT (p<0.01) and Δatg5::ATG5 (p<0.05). (E) Morphologies of cells isolated from mouse lesions and analysed by SEM. Scale bar: 2 µm.