Fig. 3

The spirochete load of B. afzelii in the tick changes over the life-cycle of I. ricinus. a The log10-transformed spirochete load increased 20-fold from the engorged larva (48 h after drop-off) to the nymph (4 weeks after the larva-to-nymph moult). b The log10-transformed spirochete load decreased 3-fold from the nymph (4 weeks after the larva-to-nymph moult) to the adult (28 weeks after the nymph-to-adult moult). The spirochete loads in the ticks were estimated using a qPCR that targeted a 132 bp fragment of the flagellin gene. The spirochete loads were log10-transformed to improve their fit to the normal distribution. Shown are the medians (black line), the 25th and 75th percentiles (edges of the box), the minimum and maximum values (whiskers), and the outliers (solid circles)