Figure 8
Tupanvirus-induced bunches may bind to and hijack uninfected cells. (A) A. castellanii cells were infected with tupanvirus at an M.O.I. of 10 and at 16 h.p.i. bunches were collected and used to inoculate flasks containing fresh, uninfected A. castellanii cells. After 30 min of incubation, the supernatant in flasks containing bunches and uninfected cells was removed. The remaining cells attached to the flask were then quantified. As a control, APMV-infected amoebae (which does not induce bunches formation) were used in parallel with tupanvirus-infected ones. (B) Remaining cells attached to flasks after incubation with tupanvirus-induced bunches or cells infected with APMV were then counted. Tupanvirus-induced bunches attached to and hijacked uninfected cells, causing a significant decrease of remaining adherent cells in the flasks, compared to APMV-infected cells. The statistical significance was calculated using a two-tailed Student’s t-test. *p < 0.05, performed using GraphPad Prism. Error bars indicate SDs.
