The seeds were prepared as described above and then pre-germinated in the dark on sterile wet filter paper in Petri dishes for 4 days. The pre-germinated seeds were immersed in a suspension of GFP-tagged N43 with a concentration of 108 cells ml−1 and then germinated in water agar plates for 2 days. The plates were then inoculated with R. solani Q1 and incubated at 25 °C in the dark