Fig. 6

Gingipains are crucial virulence factors of Pg in the zebrafish larvae infection model.

Kaplan-Meier survival plots of zebrafish larvae infected with Pg W83 (WT), ΔRgpA deficient mutant, ΔRgpB deficient mutant, ΔKgp deficient mutant, Kgp and RgpA deficient mutant (ΔK/Ra) or gingipain null mutant (ΔK/Ra-b) (a). Percentage of dead, oedematous or healthy WT Pg W83 or gingipain mutant-infected larvae after 24 (b) and 72 hpi (c) respectively. Morphology of zebrafish larvae 72 hpi with WT or ΔK/Ra-b mutant of Pg W83 (d). PBS was injected as a control. All experiments were performed at least 3 times. Bars represent means ± SD. In all experiments WT Pg or its gingipain mutants were injected into 30 hpf zebrafish larvae at 5 × 10⁴CFU. Black arrow indicates oedemas in WT Pg W83-infected larvae. Scale bar = 500 μm. Comparisons between survival curves were made using the log rank test. Differences between groups displaying oedema were measured using One-way ANOVA after normality was assured.