Tracking Fusarium graminearum growth in maize stalk.

(A) The procedure from wound inoculation to split internodes ready for observation. (B) Representative split internodes at indicated time points. (C)-(D) Representative confocal (C) and wide-field (D) microscopic images of infected tissue from longitudinal sections. Maize plants were inoculated with spores of AmCyan-expressing F. graminearum (green under a GFP channel) and kept growing until the indicated timepoints when the stalk internodes were split and subjected to immediate microscopy. In this figure we focused on pith parenchyma cells; see Figure B in S1 Text for an uninfected reference, and Figure C in S1 Text for more pictures including rind areas. Green bar = 5 cm. White bar = 100 μm. hai: hours after inoculation.