FIG 2.

Effects of treatment of Arabidopsis wild-type Col-0 with isolated rhizobacteria on resistance against Botrytis cinerea. Four-week-old plants were challenge inoculated with spores of B. cinerea at 10⁵ CFU ml⁻¹. (a) Visual comparison of disease symptoms on Arabidopsis leaves 3 days after inoculation. (b) At 7 days postinoculation, the average diameter of the expanding lesions formed in Arabidopsis leaves was measured. Disease severity, measured as the lesion diameter in the rhizobacterial treatments, was expressed as a percentage of the lesion diameter in the control treatments (set at 100%). (c) In planta growth of B. cinerea, as measured by simultaneous quantification of the expression levels of B. cinerea Actin gene (BcActin) and the Arabidopsis Actin gene (AtActin). Relative fungal growth was determined by ratios of BcActin to AtActin. Bars indicate means ± standard errors from three independent experiments, with 12 inoculated leaves per treatment (**, P < 0.01 versus control).