Fig. 5

Enhanced plasma antibacterial activity and AMP expression upon M. rileyi infection from non-axenic or axenic larvae. A After each treatment, the representative LB agar plates showed the S. aureus or E. coli colonies. Either S. aureus or E. coli were incubated with the plasma from non-axenic and axenic larvae at 48 hpi of blastospores or PBS. The mixture was diluted and plated onto the LB agar plates. B-F The number of S. aureus (B), E. coli (C), A. johnsonii (D), S. rhizophila (E), and E. ludwigii (F) colonies after each treatment was determined. Bacterial growth was exhibited as the ratio of viable colonies against the PBS control group. The data represent mean ± standard error (SE) for three biological replicates. G-I The RT-qPCR analysis showed that the expression of gloverin (G), cecropin 3 (H), and lebocin (I) was induced in the fat bodies either from the non-axenic or axenic larvae at 48 hpi. The statistical differences were analyzed using Student’s t test (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001)