A novel method to scale up fungal endophyte isolations

Abstract

Studies involving fungal endophytes very often rely on surface-sterilisation of plant samples to enable endophyte isolations. However, surface-sterilisation can be very time-consuming, potentially limiting the number of samples processed. To overcome this limitation, a novel method was developed to bulk surface-sterilise multiple plant tissue samples simultaneously and separately. The method relies on 24 perforated Falcon™ tubes, each containing a sample, sequentially transferred through a series of containers holding the sterilants. The samples that can be surface-sterilised using this method include roots, stems and leaves or entire seedlings. This method increased our throughput by a factor of 24 relative to conventional surface-sterilisation methods.

Keywords:

• surface-sterilisation
• endophyte
• entomopathogen
• colonisation
• isolation
• biological control

Acknowledgements

The bulk surface-sterilisation device described here was invented by Reynaldo Pareja, a highly creative individual dedicated to devising novel methods to save time and increase efficiency.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This project was supported by a Grand Challenges Exploration Grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation under [grant number OPP1069291] Endophytic biological control for cassava and beans.