Figure 1.

PpERF98-1/2 transcripts accumulate in the infected shoots of a peach cultivar susceptible to L. theobromae. A and B) Morphological progression of gummosis in the current-year shoots and fully expanded leaves inoculated with L. theobromae. All leaf images were digitally extracted with the same scale in panels A (bar = 1 cm) and B (bar = 2 cm). C and D) Comparison of lesion size in the infected shoots and leaves between the susceptible cultivar ‘Spring Snow' (SS) and the tolerant cultivar ‘Da Hongpao' (DHP). Asterisks indicate statistical significance between SS and DHP at the same timepoint with *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 using Student's t test. E and F) Relative transcript levels of PpERF98-1/2 in infected shoots normalized on the reference gene PpTEF2, and displayed as fold changes compared with mock samples at time 0 h. Hpi: hours post inoculation. Different letters show statistical significance of different treatments at the same time point and P < 0.05 based on Duncan’s post hoc test. Error bars represent means ± SD of three biological replicates.