A SIMPLE METHOD FOR OBTAINING SINGLE-SPORE ISOLATES OF FUNGI

A new method of single spore isolation was developed. A 0.1 mu l spore suspension was placed on water agar above one of 50-100 circles marke d on the bottom of a plate. After 12-24 h, the number of spores in eac h circle was counted. Single germinating spores in each circle were tr ansferred separately. For all six species of fungi tested, the number of spores in each micro-drop ranged from 0 to 4. More than 50% of the micro-drops contained a single spore with an unbranched germ tube. Thi s method made it easy to locate well separated spores for single-spore isolation, shortened the isolation time by half, and reduced the incu bation period from two days to one.