Calcofluor white staining and light microscopy. G. xylinus cells were
cultivated for 7 days and collected by centrifugation. The resultant pellet
was resuspended in 250 _l of fresh FPY medium. The suspension was
incubated on polyethylenimine-coated slide glasses at 25°C for 1 h. The
cells were fixed with 4% formaldehyde in 50 mM K-acetate buffer (pH
5.0) and then stained with 0.005% calcofluor white M2R dissolved in 50
mM K-acetate buffer. The stained cells were observed using an optical
microscope (Optiphot-2; Nikon, Tokyo, Japan) equipped with a chargecoupled-
device camera (Digital Sight DS-L1; Nikon).