Fig. 2

Immune gene expression 24 h after exposure to the low or high pathogen dose. Expression of all three measured immune genes (a) Relish, (b) PPOAF, and (c) Defensin was increased in infected males compared to the baseline expression level in healthy males (zero baseline) for males after high-dose (dark green), but not the low-dose (light green) pathogen exposure. For each infected male we show the relative expression level of each gene normalised to the housekeeping gene EF1A, relative to the median gene expression of the respective healthy control males (zero line) as individual data point, median per group as black line and 95% CI as box. Based on a total of 28 males (N = 10 control males, 9 low-dose and 9 high-dose exposed). Significant deviation to the healthy males for each dose and gene indicated by * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, ns = non-significant. See Fig. S2 for gene expression 12 h after exposure