Cimex lectularius immune challenges
Cimex lectularius were treated with three bacterial challenges: Pseudomonas fluorescens (an entomopathogen), a bacterial culture grown from a swab of the bed bug enclosure environment, and Borrelia duttoni, a human pathogen. P. fluorescens and the environmental bacteria were administered via needle prick, while B. duttoni was fed to bed bugs via a blood meal. Each challenge was paired with corresponding controls. The control for P. fluorescens treatment was a a sterile needle prick. The control for the environmental bacteria treatment was naive, unpricked bed bugs, and the control for B. duttoni was a sterile blood meal. All samples were starved for one week prior to treatment.