Root Staining and Slide Preparation

Finally I have a more project-oriented post! As mentioned last week, we have stained the roots harvested from the bioassay. We used a protocol very similar to the following for staining:
http://tmemam.weebly.com/uploads/1/3/0/2/13027468/mycorrhizal_staining_and_root_colonization_protocol_web.pdf .

After following the protocol, the roots remain in the jar of what seem like pickled cassettes until I make each cassette into a slide to view under the microscope.

While the liquid is very purple in color, the roots are actually stained black, enabling us to see the mycorrhizae present. I then use the PVLG to mount the roots on slides, 10 of which are completed and drying for viewing. 

Once I have made slides for all of the bioassay root subsets, I will work on making slides of the sedum/field roots that we gathered from the roots in the summer. The two types of slides can then be compared. We will be following the intersection scoring method to quantify the mycorrhizae in each subset-more about that to come. 

I know you can't exactly see the roots on these drying slides, but once they are actually ready to be seen under the microscope, I'll provide some better pictures. The PVLG is pretty sticky, so the slides can't be viewed until the slides are in a more fixed position.

While the next couple of weeks will be very chaotic with the winding down of the semester and Thanksgiving, I will try my best to keep posting!