Fig. 5

Bacterial virulence upon loss or expression of genes associated with lower virulence. a Summary of the tested LVA genes. Strain, gene nomenclature, and gene frequency are indicated. b, c Survival curves and median survival (confidence interval, C.I.) of two strains of adult C. elegans worms exposed to three strains of P. aeruginosa z8 with deletions in genes associated with lower virulence (i.e., ΔqsrO; Δteg; ΔghlO). Wildtype worms are analyzed in b, pmk-1(lf) worms in c. Pairwise comparisons of the survival curves between each strain and the z8 wildtype isolate were done using the logrank test. The test p values are indicated next to each mutant strain in the legend. d Survival curves and median survival (confidence interval, C.I.) of wildtype adult C. elegans worms exposed to four strains of P. aeruginosa z8 with plasmids expressing genes in gene blocks associated with lower virulence (i.e., ΔqsrO p (qsr +); Δteg p (tegN +); Δteg p (tegLM +); ΔghlO p (ghlO +)). Pairwise comparisons of the survival curves between each strain and the z8 wildtype strain with control plasmid (p (control)) were done using the logrank test. The test p values are indicated next to the corresponding strain in the legend. e Survival curves and median survival (confidence interval, C.I.) of pmk-1(lf) adult C. elegans worms exposed to six strains of P. aeruginosa z8 with plasmids expressing genes associated with lower virulence. Four bacterial strains express wildtype bacterial genes (i.e., ΔqsrO p (qsr +); Δteg p (tegN+); Δteg p (tegLM+); ΔghlO p (ghlO+)). Two additional bacterial strains express mutated bacterial genes (i.e., ΔqsrO p (qsr mut); Δteg p (tegN mut)). Pairwise comparisons of the survival curves between each strain and the z8 wildtype strain with control plasmid (p (control)) were done using the logrank test. The test p values are indicated next to the corresponding strain in the legend