Fig. 6From: Tick transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi to the murine host is not influenced by environmentally acquired midgut microbiotaImpairing key regulators of the immune deficiency pathway (IMD) influences spirochete growth but not migration in the tick. A cocktail of short interfering (si) RNA targeting key components of the IMD pathway, XIAP and p47 (ds xiap/p47), or control ds gfp RNA (ds gfp) was injected into the anal pore of B. burgdorferi-infected nymphs and ticks fed to repletion on pathogen-free C3H/HeN mice and the following parameters evaluated: A Engorgement weights; qRT-PCR assessment of transcript levels for B p47 in tick midguts; C xiap in tick midguts; qPCR assessment of DB. burgdorferi-specific flagellin B (flaB) in tick midguts and salivary glands (sg); E 16S rRNA as a proxy for total bacterial burden; FRickettsia buchneri (R. buchneri)-specific 16S rRNA; GStaphylococcus genera-specific 16S rRNA; HPseudomonas genera-specific 16S rRNA. (sg); Each data point in A represents 1 tick; B–H represent a pool of 3 ticks; Error bars are + SEM. Significance of differences assessed by non-parametric Mann-Whitney test (***p<0.0001; *p<0.05)Back to article page