## 2 Materials and Methods
A drop of the culture was prepared as described above for fluorescence of ABF-curdlan complexes. Intracellular CTC fluorescence was observed with excitation at 530-550 nm and emission at 590+ nm using the same optics as described above. Electron microscopy. Cells from ADB cultures were harvested and washed in water by centrifugation at forces not exceeding 500 g. Samples were mounted on formvar-coated, 300-mesh copper grids, and negatively stained with 2.5% uranyl acetate for observations using a Philips 420 transmission electron microscope (TEM) at 100 kV. Images were captured with a GATAN camera, with a 20\(\times\) magnification factor. For cell-sections, colonies were harvested from ABA and fixed in a solution of 5% glutaraldehyde and 4% para-aldehyde in 0.2 M calcium cacodylate, 0.1 M K\({}_{2}\)HP0\({}_{3}\) (pH 7.0), for one day, washed in 0.1 M cacodylate, and post-fixed in 1% osmium tetroxide in 0. 1 M cacodylate. The cells were dehydrated in a graded series of ethanol (50-100%) each for 15 min, followed by 100% acetone, infiltrated in a 25% solution of Spurr resin (Electron Microscopy Science) in acetone for 1 h, followed by 1 h incubations in 50% and 75% resin. Specimens were finally embedded in 100% resin overnight, and the resin polymerized at 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 30 h. Specim blocks were sectioned at 0.5 \(\upmu\)m thickness, stained with lead citrate-uranyl acetate and viewed under a Philips 420 TEM at 100 kV. Particle counting. ADB cultures grown for 2 to 7 d were diluted (1 in 10) with 50 mM Na\({}_{2}\)HPO\({}_{4}\)/NaH\({}_{2}\)PO\({}_{4}\) (pH 7.0) before analyzing with a particle counter/sizer (CDA-500, Model: F-520p, Sysmex) with a 100 gm aperture detector. Particles were measured at two ranges: 10-40 \(\upmu\)m and 40-100 \(\upmu\)m.  
96-well plate assay. Sterile, transparent, flat-bottom 96-well microplates (Greiner Bio-One) were prepared by adding 100 \(\upmu\)L of 1% agar (liquid, 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C) containing aniline blue and nutrients from ADB or MOPS medium to each well. After the agar had cooled to room temperature, 20 \(\upmu\)L of ADB or MOPS medium inoculated with _agrobacteriumum_ was pipetted onto the agar, and the plate was covered with a transparent plastic lid (with condensation rings, high profile, clear, sterile, Greiner Bio-One) and incubated in a Tecan reader (Infinite 200 Pro (M Nano+)) at 30 \({}^{\circ}\)C up to 72 h. The Tecan reader was programmed to measure the cultures growing in the well automatically at 3 h intervals. Curdlan extraction. Curdlan was harvested from liquid cultures of _agrobacteriumum_ as follows: The liquid culture (1 L) was subjected to centrifugation at 4000\(\times\)_g_, 10 min. The supernatant was discarded and the pellet was resuspended in 1 L water. NaOH was added to the cell suspension a final concentration of 0.5 M, and stirred for 5 min. The cells were removed by centrifugation at 10,000\(\times\)_g_ for 10 min. The supernatant was removed to a clean container carefully without disturbing the cell pellet. HCl (32%) was added in slowly to the supernatant in a step-wise fashion, with good mixing, until pH 7. Then, the neutralized suspension was centrifuged at 10,000\(\times\)_g_ for 10 min. The supernatant carefully removed and discarded. The almost-transparent curdlan pellet was washed by resuspending in water and centrifugation at 10,000\(\times\)\(g\). This step was repeated 3 times, before the curdlan was placed in a petri-dish and incubated at 40-50 \({}^{\circ}\)C for 2-3 days. The dried curdlan was then weighed.