Fig. 1: LACV infects and replicates in skin-associated muscle.
From: Skin muscle is the initial site of viral replication for arboviral bunyavirus infection
Mice were infected with LACV and back skin was removed at 1 dpi (E) and 2 dpi (A, B, D). For (B), LACV was pre-incubated with mosquito salivary gland extract before injection. Skin sections (A, B) or cleared whole skin pieces (D) were stained with antibodies against LACV (magenta) and GFP or CD90 (green) (A, B) and anti-myosin (yellow (B), white (D)). Infection rate in the skin was quantified per skin section as a percent of LACV+, myosin+ cells from total myosin+ cells and plotted as individual points per field of view with different symbol shapes representing four separate mice (C). Error bars represent mean ± SD. Arrows indicate infected cells and asterisks denote autofluorescent hair follicles. Dotted line in (A, B) mark outer boundary of the epidermis. Sections were also assayed by colorimetric in situ hybridization for LACV genomic RNA or LACV replicative intermediate RNA (E). Insets are 3x zoom from original images. Nuclei were visualized by hematoxylin staining (E). Microscopy is representative of 2 (D) or 4 (A, B, E) mice per analysis. Scale bars represent 50 μm. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
