Figure 1.

Timing of development of AX2, T10, and TWT cells on agar or soil plates. At the beginning of starvation, cells of the indicated strain were resuspended at 1 × 10⁸/ml in Sörensen phosphate buffer, were plated on agar or soil plates, and were incubated at 23°C. Development was monitored at regular intervals with a stereomicroscope. Time elapsed from beginning of starvation for appearance in the colonies of the first compact aggregates (dotted columns) or fruiting bodies (dashed columns) is indicated in the ordinate. a, agar; A, B, and C, soil plates with increasing degree of moisture, prepared as described in Material and Methods. Average times of three (a) and eight (A, B, and C) experiments are shown. The SDs did not exceed ±1 h for both compact aggregate and fruiting body formation in all cases.