Figure 9.

Silencing of PsNCED3 promotes bud dormancy release in tree peony. A) Representative phenotypes of sprouting buds from 1-yr-old grafted tree peony plants infiltrated with TRV empty vector or TRV-PsNCED3. The buds at 25 d after chilling were used for infiltration. Photographs were taken at 7 and 14 DAI. The buds were digitally extracted for comparison. Scale bars = 0.8 cm. B) RT-qPCR analysis of expression levels of PsNCED3 in the buds inoculated with various TRV constructs at 7 and 14 DAI. Bud break rates C) and growth heights D) of TRV empty vector- and TRV-PsNCED3-infected tree peony plants at 7 and 14 DAI. E) ABA levels in TRV construct-infected buds at given time points. F) RT-qPCR analysis of expression levels of some ABA-responsive genes in the buds infected with various TRV constructs at given time points. Expression levels were normalized to PsActin. Error bars represent Se of the mean from 3 biological replicates. Statistical significance was verified using Student's t test (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01) and denoted by asterisks.