Fig. 6

Quantitative analysis of total parasite burden. Parasite burden in spleen of BALB/c mice, 5 mice per group, after infection of spleen with LV9 wt, LV9 NMT^+/HYG [NMT-TK], LV9 ΔNMT [NMT-TK], LV9 ΔNMT [NMT-TK][NMT-tdtom] or LV9 ΔNMT [NMT-TK][tdtom] and treating with Ganciclovir (3 mg/kg per day; open symbols) or with diluent/solvent (filled symbols) for 28 days b.i.d. There was no difference in total parasite burden between treated and untreated wt parasites or when the second allele of NMT was present or NMT was ectopically expressed from a plasmid. However, the total parasite burden significantly dropped in mice upon treatment with GCV if parasites were double NMT KOs or it was not ectopically expressed from a plasmid. In the GCV-treated group of wt, LV9 NMT^+/HYG [NMT-TK] and LV9 ΔNMT [NMT-TK][NMT-tdtom], one animal had to be sacrificed for ethical reasons. Statistics: Mann–Whitney test *P < 0.5, **P < 0.05