Table 2.

Strain-specific sorting out of cells co-aggregating under shaking

Starvation time, h	Strain combination	Aggregate sorting out
		% strain-specific	Partially mixed	Mixed aggregates
0.5	AX2 + T10	0	0	100
0.5	AX2 + TWT	99 ± 1.9	0.8 ± 1.7	0
5	AX2 + T10	69 ± 2.9	31 ± 2.9	0

AX2/βgal, T10, and TWT cells were starved separately at a density of 1 × 10⁷ cells/ml. At the indicated time, cells were mixed 1:1 and were shaken at 150 rpm for 30 min. The aggregates were fixed, washed, and labeled with β-gal staining. Stained (AX2) and unstained (T10 or TWT) aggregates could be found (“strain-specific”), as could aggregates with distinct strain-specific areas (“partially mixed”) or in which cells of two strains were mixed randomly (“mixed aggregates”). The number of aggregates in the three categories in each experiment was determined and expressed as % of total. Mean values ± SD of three experiments are shown. A total of 138 (AX2 + T10 at 0.5 h), 122 (AX2 + TWT at 0.5 h), and 174 (AX2 + T10 at 5 h) aggregates were counted.