NRGN and infection: In broad terms, the experiments associated with functional characterization are designed to assess the effects of conditional or isogenic knockout mutations on the ability of Ng to thrive in vitro under standard conditions as well as during exposure to stimuli relevant to infection, its ability to adhere to and invade epithelial cells, and its ability to colonize female mice during experimental infection in the murine model of lower genital tract infection or transgenic mice (41, 42).