Rice seeds (Japonica nipponbare) were obtained from Dr Yin Zhong Zhao (Temasek Life Sciences Laboratories, Singapore). Seeds were surface sterilized as described above. The seeds were rinsed in sterile SRT2104 distilled water and germinated in N6 agar medium. The germinated seedlings were placed on N6 agar supplemented with 2 mg/mL of 2, 4-dichlorophenyoxyacetic selleck compound acid (2, 4-D) in the dark to induce callus production. The callus were regenerated on N6 medium supplemented with 2 mg/mL Benzylaminopurine (BA), 1 mg/mL Naphthylacetic Acid (NAA), 1 mg/mL Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and 1 mg/mL Kinetin under 16 hour daylight and 8 hour dark photoperiod. Rice plantlets were transferred

and maintained in MS agar medium. The plantlets were

transferred into 50 mL Falcon tubes with 5 mL of liquid MS medium for infection. Some plantlets were also wounded by cutting off the roots before being transferred. Plant infection Tomato, rice and Arabidopsis plantlets were infected with log phase cultures at the concentration of 1 × 107 colony forming units (cfu)/5 mL medium by immersing only the roots of the plantlets in the inoculum in a 50 mL tube. The plantlets were maintained at selleck chemicals llc 24-25°C, shaking at 100 rpm. The plantlets were observed for symptoms such as yellowing of leaves, blackening of the leaf veins, wilting and necrosis daily over 7 days. Each plantlet was scored daily on a disease index score of 1 to 5 based on how extensive the symptoms were as calculated by the percentage of the plant with symptoms (1: no symptoms; 2: 1 to 25% of the plant showed symptoms; 3: 26 to 50% of the plant acetylcholine showed

symptoms; 4: 51 to 75% of the plant showed symptoms; 5: 76 to 100% of the plant showed symptoms or the plant was dead) [15]. Each experiment included at least 12 to 20 plantlets infected with bacteria except for experiments with rice and Arabidopsis plantlets where 6 plantlets were used. All experiments were repeated at least twice. Multiplication of B. thailandensis in tomato plantlets and leaves Tomato plantlets were infected with bacteria through unwounded roots and three leaves from each plantlet were excised at day 1, 3, 5 and 7 after infection. The leaves were macerated in 1 mL PBS with a micro-pestle, serially diluted and plated on TSA plates in duplicates. Tomato leaves were infected by cutting with a pair of scissors dipped in 1 × 109 cfu/mL of B. thailandensis. Five plantlets were used in each experiment. At days 1 and 3 after infection, one infected leaf from each plantlet was excised, washed with 10% bleach solution for 1 min and rinsed with sterile water. The leaf was blotted dry on sterile filter paper and imprinted on TSA agar plates to determine if there were any bacteria on the surface of the leaves. The imprinted plates were incubated at 37°C for 24 hours before checking for any bacteria growth.