Journal: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Article Title: Individual differences in boldness influence patterns of social interactions and the transmission of cuticular bacteria among group-mates

doi: 10.1098/rspb.2016.0457

Figure Lengend Snippet: Spiders under long-wave UV light: (a) exposed to sterile PBS (control); (b) 4 h after exposure to CNK02; and (c) 48 h after exposure to CNK02. (d) An unexposed spider that has interacted with an exposed spider for 24 h. Areas of green fluorescence, suggesting the presence of viable CNK02 cells, are pointed out with arrows. (Online version in colour.)

Article Snippet: After 24 h, we removed the susceptible individual and vortexed it in 1 ml sterile LB amp/ara broth for 10 s. We removed the spider, transferred 40 μl of this solution onto LB amp/ara agar, and incubated this plate and the remaining solution (960 μl) at 30°C for 20 h. We visually counted the number of LB amp/ara broth solutions that fluoresced under a long-wave UV light pen (BioRad) to assess successful transmission, and counted the number of colony forming units (CFUs) that grew and fluoresced on each LB amp/ara plate to approximate the relative bacterial load that had been transferred to susceptible individuals.

Techniques: Sterility, Control, Fluorescence