Figure 7.

Silencing of NbRbCS delays systemic infection by ToMV. A, Silencing of NbRbCS delays the systemic symptoms induced by ToMV. Plants were photographed at 5 dpi (bottom row). The white arrow points out the shoot curling caused by ToMV systemic infection. Shoot apices are shown in partially enlarged images in the top row. Bars = 1 cm. B, RT-PCR detection of ToMV RNA from TRV control plants with viral symptoms and NbRbCS-silenced plants without viral symptoms at 5 dpi. Representative gels show RT-PCR products (32 cycles of amplification) corresponding to fragments of ToMV CP and the control 18s rRNA. C, Percentage of plants that displayed ToMV-induced systemic symptoms. All values depicted with symbols and bars in line charts are means ± sd from six independent experiments. D, Box plots depict dpi for ToMV systemic infection. Significantly slower ToMV systemic infection was observed in NbRbCS-silenced plants compared with that in nonsilenced TRV control plants. Asterisks above the bars denote the significance of differences between NbRbCS-silenced plants and nonsilenced control plants according to two-sample Student’s t test (**P < 0.01; n = 51). Whiskers represent 5% to 95% intervals of each grouped data set, and crosses represent maximal and minimal observations, respectively.