Fig. 6

Analysis of relative mRNA expression. C. jejuni NCTC 11168 was grown in vitro and in Caco-2 cells. The flhF gene was observed to be continuously upregulated during the Caco-2 cell infection process. Each column represents the relative mRNA expression of flhF during the cell infection process to the in vitro group. The data are presented as the means ± standard deviation (SD) from three independent experiments (a). Heatmap presentation of relative mRNA expression of other infection-related genes not directly involved in flagellar assembly. Red and green in the heatmap represent gene upregulation and downregulation, respectively, in the flhF mutant relative to the wild-type strain, with more saturated colors representing a greater difference as indicated in the bar (b). Some representatives were selected for further qRT-PCR verification. Each column represents the relative mRNA expression of the flhF mutant strain relative to the C. jejuni NCTC 11168 strain. The data are presented as the means ± standard deviation (SD) from three independent experiments (c)