A versatile microfluidic platform measures hyphal interactions between

摘要

a Overview of the FFI device, showing the nature of the interaction and control channels and how they are connected to the fungal inocula. The enlarged regions of interest (dashed boxes) illustrate the directed growth of the fungal inoculum towards the control and interaction channels (duplicates of each channel type). Scale bar = 1 mm. b Photograph illustrating the FFI device. Two fungal inocula plugs of equal size (F1 and F2) can be introduced into the device, allowing hyphal growth and therefore confrontation of two fungal strains via interconnected microchannels. Microchannels feature on the surface of a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) slab bonded to a glass-bottomed Petri dish. Scale bar = 1 cm. c Schematic representation of the interaction zone between the two fungi, consisting of equally sized, diamond-shaped segments that trigger a funnel effect and therefore regulate hyphal advance along the microchannel. Scale bar = 250 µm. d Phase contrast image taken from the interaction zone showing hyphae from two different fungal strains growing towards one another. Scale bar = 250 µm.