Monitoring Bacterial Colonization and Maintenance on Arabidopsis thaliana Roots in a Floating Hydroponic System

Most experiments study plant-microbe interactions by focusing on colonization, but our protocol is designed to look both at colonization and maintenance of the bacteria on the root. We can change the experiment to fit different bacteria and plants, and we can even test multiple bacteria in each 24-well plate. To begin, use a standard hole puncher to create disks of plastic mesh.

Collect the disks in a glass container, and cover loosely. Sterilize using an autoclave set to a 20-minute dry cycle. Use flame-sterilized tweezers to distribute approximately 40 sterilized mesh disks in a single layer across the surface of previously prepared plant growth medium agar plate.