Bacterial strain and growth conditions 105
Ralstonia solanacearum was isolated from a naturally infected tomato plant grown in 106
Yamaguchi, Japan. A stored stock culture of the bacterial isolate was streaked on triphenyl 107
tetrazolium chloride (TTC) medium and incubated at 30°C for 48 h (Kelman, 1954). A single 108
colony of the isolate was selected and cultured at 30°C on rich casamino acids–peptone–109
glucose (CPG) medium (pH 7 .0) for 48 h (Kelman, 1954). Ralstonia solanacearum cells were 110
suspended in sterile water and adjusted to approximately 10 8 cfu mL –1 at 660 nm by using a 111
spectrophotometer. The suspensions were used to inoculate tomato plants in the following 112
experiments (see below).