Fig. 1
Vegetative cell fusions of Zymoseptoria tritici. a Blastospores of a GFP- or mCh-tagged 1E4 strain appeared only in a one-color channel of the fluorescence microscope. b High initial cell density (1 × 107 blastospores/mL) induced conidial anastomosis tubes (CATs) that were frequently observed after 17 h of incubation. c, d Vegetative hyphal fusions (VHFs) from germinating blastospores or pycnidiospores of a GFP- or mCh-tagged 1E4 strain were induced at lower initial cell density (1 × 106 blastospores/mL) and were noticed after 40 h of incubation. Cell fusions may result in the continuous mixing of cytoplasmic content of individuals expressing GFP or mCh fluorescent proteins. Black arrows or white triangles point to the CATs or VHFs, respectively. White asterisks point to the fusion bridges formed between individuals expressing identical fluorescent proteins