Fig. 4: Increased oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage in Atg7 cKO lungs during NTM infection.
a Atg7 cWT and Atg7 cKO mice were infected with Mav (1 × 107 CFU) for 21 days. UMAP plots of the module scores for the ROS pathway (HALLMARK_ REACTIVE_ OXYGEN_SPECIES_PATHWAY), mapped to both the total and cluster 5 regions within the spatial context, comparing lung tissues from mice. Violin plot shows a significant difference in cluster 5, assessed using a two-sided unpaired Welch’s t-test (P < 2.2 × 10−16; Atg7 cWT: n = 490 spots; Atg7 cKO: n = 1275 spots). b Atg7 cWT and Atg7 cKO mice were infected with Mav (1 × 107 CFU) for 21 days. Lung tissues were stained with MitoSOX (red) and DAPI (for nuclei; blue). Representative immunofluorescence images. c, d Atg7 cWT and Atg7 cKO mice were infected with Mabc-R (2 × 106 CFU) for 14 days or Mav (1 × 107 CFU) for 21 days. ROS levels in lung tissues were visualized using DHE (red). Representative immunofluorescence images (c) and quantitative analysis of DHE relative intensity (d, n = 12; independent biological replicates). e, f Atg7 cWT and Atg7 cKO mice were infected with Mabc-R (2 × 106 CFU) or Mav (1 × 107 CFU) for 10 days. Representative TEM images of damaged mitochondria in lung tissues from mice (e). Red stars indicate damaged mitochondria. The percentage of damaged mitochondria (Mav: n = 10; Mabc-R: n = 17; independent biological replicates) and the quantification of circularity of the mitochondria (Mav: n = 27; Mabc-R: n = 35; independent biological replicates) (f). Statistical significance was determined by two-sided unpaired t-test with Mann-Whitney U-test (d, f). Data shown (means ± SEM) represent the combined results of triplicate experiments from three independent experiments (c, f). Images are representative of three independent experiments (b, c, e). Un uninfected, arb. units arbitrary unit. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
