Figure 4.

Characterization of MeSWEET10a mutant flower morphology and reproductive viability. A) RT-PCR of WT419 female (F) and male flowers (M) collected from field-grown plants. Top gel shows results of RT-PCR with primers amplifying MeSWEET10a with an expected product size of 123 bp. The bottom gel shows results of RT-PCR with primers amplifying the housekeeping gene GTPB as a control for sample loading with an expected product size of 184 bp. gDNA is from WT419 leaf tissue included as a positive control and “-” denotes a negative water control. B) Representative images of WT419 (left) and line 338 (right) inflorescence structures detached from individual field-grown plants for imaging (top). The number of flower buds present on each inflorescence is presented in table format (bottom). Scale bar = 5 cm. C) Representative female and male flowers collected from WT419 and line 338 flowering field-grown plants. Images of the same flower were taken as whole flowers (left) partially dissected with 1 or 2 petal-like bracts removed (middle) and dissected with all petal-like bracts removed (right). Scale bar = 0.25 cm.