Soil, residues and maize differed in 13C signature (δ13C soil −26.5‰, maize roots −14.1‰ and wheat residues −44.1‰) which allowed tracking of root- and residue-derived C into microbial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA).
Imaging was performed with a time lapse of 30 seconds throughout the experiment, which allowed tracking of individual cells before and throughout infection.
Furthermore, the longitudinal nature of the data allowed tracking of frequency shifts in interesting sequences that were subject to VVC selection pressure.
This allowed tracking of cell counts over various time points, expressing cell numbers as percentage of the starting value at time point 0. Data was analysed using the Dako Summit software.
As shown by the confocal laser scanning micrograph in Figure 6 for both the x-y and x-z planes and also the 3D volumetric reconstructions, the enhanced fluorescence staining allowed tracking of the two different cells over long times.
Time-lapse movies were acquired for a period of 30 40 hours, at a temporal resolution of 20 min. Each movie allowed tracking of individual cells from 48 fields of view; each field of view contained 50 100 cells (for more details see Material and Methods section).
