About the Authors

Cinzia Benagli

cinzia.benagli@ti.ch

Affiliation Institute of Microbiology, Bellinzona, Switzerland

Antonella Demarta

Affiliation Institute of Microbiology, Bellinzona, Switzerland

AnnaPaola Caminada

Affiliation Institute of Microbiology, Bellinzona, Switzerland

Dominik Ziegler

Affiliation Mabritec AG, Riehen, Switzerland

Orlando Petrini

Affiliation Institute of Microbiology, Bellinzona, Switzerland

Mauro Tonolla

Affiliations Institute of Microbiology, Bellinzona, Switzerland, Microbial Ecology, Microbiology Unit, Plant Biology Department University of Geneva, Genève, Switzerland

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal’s policy and have the following conflicts: Dominik Ziegler is employed by Mabritec AG. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: CB AD OP MT. Performed the experiments: CB. Analyzed the data: CB APC DZ MT. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: OP. Wrote the paper: CB OP.