Figure 6

Signal to noise ratio of LNA and DNA probes while detecting the less abundant endosymbiont ( Arsenophonus ). The graph depicts the signal to noise ratio, per 100 μm square area and plotted against increasing formamide concentration. No background correction was performed here. S/N value was calculated by dividing signal with the background of the same image and thus it gives a good idea about the binding efficiency of the probe. LNA has a high signal to noise ratio at all formamide concentrations, when compared to DNA probe. The high signal and low background of LNA probes was observed even when the laser settings were lower than that of DNA probes. Arsenophonus was detected at 9 different formamide concentrations (0%-80%), both by DNA as well as the LNA probes. Replicates consisted of 10 insect samples for each condition. Fluorescence intensities were quantified by NIS elements (V 3.21.02) image analysis software (Nikon).