Root sections (1 cm long) from the collar region of
the plant were cut and rinsed under tap water. These
sections were then soaked in undiluted commercial
laundry bleach solution (‘White King’, 4% NaOCl)
for 30 s and rinsed with sterile dH2O three times. These
root sections were then cut into thin transverse sections
and crushed to release individual pelotons from cortical
cells; a few uncrushed sections were kept and photographed
using a Nikon E600 upright photomicroscope
(Nikon, Tokyo). Healthy (non-collapsed) individual
pelotons were removed with a 2.5 ml micropipette
and transferred to malt extract agar (MEA) or potato
dextrose agar (PDA) plates containing 15 mg lx1
streptomycin and 15 mg lx1 tetracycline. At least 10
individual pelotons were removed from each plant.
Culture plates were sealed and dark incubated at 20 xC.