TABLE 2.

Cavity formation as a function of inoculum size

Dilution factor	Estimated inoculum size (no. of cells)	Symptoms observed after incubation (h) fora:
		16	32	48	64	80	96	112	120
100	24 × 106	*	**	**+	x	x	x	x	x
102	24 × 104	—	*	**	**+	x	x	x	x
104	24 × 102	—	—	—	—	H	H	H	A
106	24	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	A
108		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	A

^a*, cavity formation; **, massive tissue degradation; **+, complete tissue degradation of mushrooms; —, no reaction observed; H, hypersensitive reaction in 30% of the mushroom slices; A, assay terminated after mushroom slice started degenerating; x, tissue disappearance due to excess degradation by the pathogen.