Figure 4

Comparison of 5 virulence gene expression profiles between different MRSA strains. (A) Fold-change in the transcriptional level for each gene in MRSA at stationary phase relative to the level in bacteria at mid-log phase in vitro (BHI broth); (B) Fold-change in the transcriptional level for each gene of MRSA strains relative to the level of M92 at mid-log phase in vitro (BHI broth); (C) Fold-change in the transcriptional level of each gene in MRSA strains relative to the level of M92 at 18 hour in the flies post infection (in vivo). The asterisk indicates a statistically significantly difference (p < 0.05) of the in vivo virulence gene expression in the MRSA strains as compared with M92 (Student’s t-test). Hemolysin α (hla): USA300 vs M92, p=0.0013; USA400 vs M92, p=0.038; and CMRSA2 vs M92, p=0.0015. Staphylokinase (sak): USA300 vs M92, p=0.006; USA400 vs M92, p=0.007; CMRSA2 vs M92, p=0.0698.