Quantitative Real Time PCR (qRT-PCR) on a panel of seven genes was used to verify the transcriptional changes observed by microarray analysis. Consistent with the microarray results, expression of TEOSINTE
BRANCHED1, CYCLOIDEA, and
PCF
TRANSCRIPTION
FACTOR3 (TCP3, At1g53230), SUGAR
TRANSPORTER1 (SWEET1, At1g21460), SUGAR
TRANSPORTER15 (SWEET15, At5g13170) and TYROSINE
TRANSAMINASE enzyme encoding gene (TT, At4g23590) genes was up-regulated in
Pucciniamonoica
-induced pseudoflowers (‘Pf’) compared to
B
. stricta
stems and leaves (‘SL’), while ALTERED
MERISTEM
PROGRAMMING1 (AMP1, At3g54720), KNOTTED-LIKE1 (KNAT1, At4g08150) and FLOWERING
LOCUS
T (FT, At1g65480) genes was down-regulated (see Table 1). In addition, SWEET15 and FT genes were confirmed to be down-regulated in uninfected
B
. stricta
flowers (‘F’) compared to ‘SL’ as shown by microarray analysis (see Table S2). To indicate the mode of regulation we used two symbols: ‘*’ for significant up-regulation and ‘#’ for significant down-regulation. The number of symbols indicates level of significance: one for P < 0.05, two for P < 0.01 and three for P < 0.001. The error bars represents standard error of the mean.