Fig. 2

An overview of the optimized sporulation protocol. One-week old vegetative growth V8-PDA plates (a = M4; b = DW5 Ptr isolates) are plugged with the end of a 200 µl pipettip (c) about 0.5 cm from the outer rim of the mycelial growth (d). A total of 16 plugs are transferred with a sterile blade (e) onto a fresh V8-PDA plate and plugs are evenly spaced (5 mm) along the edge of the plate (f). Plates are incubated without lids under N-UV light (g) for 24 h which induces conidiophore production (h). After 18 h incubation in the dark at 15 °C the excessive agar is removed and spores are brushed off in a 0.02% Tween 20 solution (i). The flow chart on the right summarizes the three main phases and steps involved in the optimized sporulation protocol