“…Hop wood, John Innes Institute, Norwich, UK, was routinely cultured and maintained as described elsewhere (Allan & Prosser, 1983). Growth experiments were carried out in a glucose mineral salts broth, adapted from Noack (1986) and containing [g (l distilled water) –1 ] KH 2 PO 4 , 2·72; Na 2 PO 4 .2H 2 O, 7·16; NaCl, 5·097; Na 2 SO 4 , 1·065; MgCl 2 .6H 2 O, 0·04; FeCl 2 , 0·005; NH 4 C1, 0·4; Casamino acids (Difco), 5; d -glucose, 0·5. All components, except glucose, were sterilized by autoclaving for 15 min at 121 °C (15 p.s.i.…”