FIG 4.

Gnotobiotic cabbages demonstrate that LAB are establishment limited in the Napa cabbage phyllosphere. (A) Photograph of gnotobiotic Napa cabbages used in experiments. (B) Overview of experimental design showing four treatments (LAB grown alone, LAB grown 1:1 with synthetic phyllosphere community [SPC], LAB grown 1:10 with SPC, and LAB grown 1:100 with SPC). Treatments were applied using sterile brown amber spray bottles. Four lactic acid bacteria were used in these experiments: Pediococcus pentosaceus strain B6N, Leuconostoc mesenteroides strain BN10, Lactobacillus plantarum strain MKR2, and Lactococcus lactis strain D119. (C) Abundance of the SPC (TS agar in blue) and LAB (MRS agar in red) in the input (I) inoculum and output (O) after 10 days of growth in the NCP is shown. Input and output were significantly different from one another in all tested LAB species (t test, P < 0.5, corrected for repeat sampling using a Hochberg correction; n = 8; ND, not detected).