Fig. 8: Assessing the effect of loss of nctA on the virulence of A. fumigatus in murine infection models.

Mice were infected with the wild-type (WT), the nctA null mutant (∆nctA) or the reconstituted isolate (nctA rec). a, b Kaplan–Meier curve for murine survival for mice treated via (a) intranasal infection with 5.0 × 10⁵ conidia after mice were rendered neutropenic by treatment with cyclophosphamide, and (b) intranasal infection with 7.0 × 10⁶ conidia after cortisone acetate treatment. A log rank analysis was used to compare the results between the strains. c Relative expression levels of proinflammatory cytokines in the infected lung tissues. Data represent the mean of biological triplicates and error bars illustrate the standard deviation. Statistical significance was calculated by Student’s t test. d Histopathology of representative sections of lungs after 36 h post infection with WT, ∆nctA, or nctA rec. Lung sections were stained with haematoxylin–eosin (H&E) for visualisation of the host cells, and Grocott’s Methenamine Silver (GMS) for visualisation of the fungal elements. Scale bar: 50 µm. e Quantification of the fungal burden in the infected lungs. The total genomic DNA was extracted from the same lung lobe samples used for the cytokine expression analysis, and fungal DNA concentration was determined by qPCR. Data represent the means of biological replicates, and the error bars mean standard deviation. The statistical significance of variances between fungal burdens was calculated by using a non-parametric Mann–Whitney t test. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.