Fig. 1

Nematicidal activity of the P. veronii strain R4 over Xiphinema index individuals. Nematicidal activity of strain R4 cell supernatants was obtained from cell cultures grown with milk induction [12], pelleted with acetone, and resuspended using phosphate buffer. Total proteins (20 μg) were added to the wells of 96-well microplates containing 100 μL of buffer and 30 nematodes. The plates were incubated at 24 ± 1 °C for 3 h, and the samples were analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Initial cuticle degradation in X. index individuals appeared on discrete areas of nematodes’ bodies (a and b), which after challenge led to whole degradation (c)