PMA treatment increases the CT values

Figure 2: PMA treatment increases the C_T values of nonviable cells. (A) PMA treatment of viable and nonviable Y. pestis pgm- (25 μM PMA) and (B) B. anthracis Sterne (10 μM PMA) results in a significant shifts in C_T values between treated and untreated samples (ΔC_T). (C)There is a significant difference between the ΔC_T values of viable and nonviable cells, enabling differentiation of viable and nonviable populations. The *symbol indicates a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) when comparing the ΔC_T values of viable and nonviable populations. Among the three independent experiments, the total number of cells per qPCR reaction for B. anthracis Sterne ranged from 3.1 × 10⁶ to 3.8 × 10⁶ which corresponded to C_T values of 21.66 to 21.76. For Y. pestis, the total number of cells per qPCR reaction ranged from 5.9 × 10⁵ to 6.2 × 10⁵ which corresponded to C_T values of 16.1 to 16.6.