The inhibition of autophagy by 3-MA (Fig. 5A) or ATG5 depletion by siRNA (Fig. 5B) significantly decreased the survival of P. gingivalis over 24 hours infection, indicating a critical role for autophagy and specifically initial phagophore formation for intracellular P. gingivalis survival (p < 0.05) . The gene discussed is ATG5; the disease is infection.