2.5. In vivo virulence assays in the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) infection model
In vivo virulence behavior of ESBL-producing E. coli was evaluated using the G. mellonella infection model (Tsai, Loh, & Proft, 2016). The non-virulent E. coli ATCC 25922 and the hypervirulent meningitis/sepsis associated K1 E. coli strain (MNEC RS218) (Achtman et al., 1983; Santos, Zidko, Pignatari, & Silva, 2013) were used as non-virulent and hypervirulent controls. In brief,G. mellonella larvae, of nearly 250 to 350 mg, were inoculated with 105 CFU of each strain. Survival of two G. mellonella groups (each group composed by 20 larvae) inoculated with each strain were evaluated for 96 h. Data were analyzed by the log rank test, with p < 0.05 indicating statistical significance (Prism GraphPad Software, San Diego, CA, USA).