Figure 4: Reduction in CT values are observed in samples with increasing concentrations of nonviable cells in Y. pestis pgm- treated with 25 μM PMA (A) and B. anthracis Sterne vegetative cells treated with 10 μM (B). Measurements are the average value of three independent experiments and error bars are representative of the standard deviation. The * symbol indicates a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) when comparing the ΔCT values to the ΔCT values of the >95% sample. Among the three independent experiments, the number of cells per qPCR reaction for B. anthracis Sterne ranged from was 9.83 × 104 to 1.98 × 105 which corresponded to CT values of 21.59 to 21.06. For Y. pestis, the total number of cells per qPCR ranged from 7.83 × 105 to 1.65 × 105 which corresponded to CT values ranging from 14.8 to 15.01.