Fig. 4

Interkingdom competitions mediated by non-T6SS-dependent effectors. A CLSM of B. cinerea hyphae treated with eosin Y to stain chitosan after 24 h of competition with the P. putida KT2440 WT and Pseudomonas 250 J WT strains and strains carrying plasmids (p2213, p2213-VgrG2a-csn and p2213-VgrG250 J-csn). The reduction in the eosin Y signal during competition with KT2440 and 250 J carrying p2213-VgrG250 J-csn indicates chitosan degradation. Scale = 10 µm. B Box-and-whisker plot showing the relative signal intensity of eosin Y for B. cinerea (prey) growing alone and in competition with the KT2440 WT or 250 J WT strain and strains carrying plasmids (p2213-VgrG2a-csn and p2213-VgrG250 J-csn) as attackers. C Representative TEM images of B. cinerea under different conditions: control, competing with KT2440 wildtype, KT2440 (p2213-VgrG250 J-csn), 250 J wildtype, and 250 J (p2213-VgrG250 J-csn). The images show disruption of the beta-glucan layer when B. cinerea interacts with strains expressing chitosanase. Scale bars are included in the images. At least 5 hyphae (N = 5) were analyzed in all the cases, and the error bars represent the SDs. Statistical significance was assessed via one-way ANOVA. **** p value < 0.0001