A novel experimental platform for the microscopic observation of germination and post-germination events in Phytopathogenic microfungi

This method describes the optimisation of compound microscopy for the observation of fungal spore germination, and post-germination events including appressorial formation, migration of nuclei, and development of the vacuolar-microtubular systems. Central to this method is the cellulosic microscope slide, developed as an extension to the method for observing fungal mycelial growth devised by Harrower (1985). The cellulosic microscope slide is a transparent experimental platform developed as a dry substrate speciffically to enable the observation of fungal spore germination under various desiccation and relative humidity regimes, but which also proved to be invaluable for the observation of post-germination events.