Skip to main content
. 2014 Mar 27;9(3):e93302. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0093302

Figure 3. SlSERK3A and SlSERK3B co-silenced plants are compromised in cell death control and BR sensitivity.

Figure 3

(A) Transcript levels of VIGS-silenced genes were evaluated using qRT-PCR. Tomato cv. Moneymaker plants treated with TRV empty vector (TRV), TRV-SlSERK3A, TRV-SlSERK3B or TRV-SlSERK3AB were evaluated. Expression was normalized against UBI3. Two independent samples were analyzed per construct. Values are average ± SE of three technical replicates. *P<0.05 significant difference from TRV (two-sample t-test). Experiment was repeated three times with similar results. (B) Phenotype of individually silenced SlSERK3A, SlSERK3B and co-silenced plants. (C) Cell death lesions in SlSERK3A and SlSERK3B co-silenced tomato leaflets. (D) Defense and senescence-related SlPRIa, SlPR2, SlPR5, and SlACS2 gene regulation in SlSERK3A or SlSERK3B silenced and co-silenced plants. Transcript levels were evaluated using qRT-PCR normalized against SlUBI3. Values are average ± SE (n = 3). * indicates significance difference from TRV at P<0.05 (two-sample t-test). Experiment was repeated twice with similar results. (E) Aniline blue-stained tomato leaf discs. Callose accumulation was detected near the edges of leaf patches showing cell-death in co-silenced SlSERK3A and SlSERK3B plants and TRV control. Leaves treated with 1 µM flg22 for 24 h were used as control. (F) Leaflets of tomato plants silenced for SlSERK3A, SlSERK3B or co-silenced and TRV control were treated with 10 µM BL for 12 h for SlCPD expression evaluation. Transcript levels were evaluated using qRT-PCR normalized against SlUBI3. Values are average ± SE (n = 3). *P<0.05 and **P<0.01 indicate significant difference from the respective –BL control (two-sample t-test). This experiment was repeated twice with similar results.