To test if increased mortality in Sept15 morphants is a result of neutropenia, we co-injected control or Sept15 morphants with a morpholino oligonucleotide against Irf8 (a gene involved in leukocyte differentiation [27]) to skew the myeloid cell balance towards neutrophils, and infected larvae with S. flexneri (Fig 3C and 3D). Here, IRF8 is linked to Decreased total neutrophil count.