Figure 1.

Expression pattern of Sl-ERF.B.3 gene, in aerial parts of wild type tomato plants, in response to five abiotic stresses. Transcripts accumulation was assessed by quantitative real time PCR, as described in material and methods, using total RNA samples extracted from shoots of three weeks old wild type tomato plants: treated by 4°C for 8 h (cold), stored at 42°C for 8 h (heat), watered by 200 mM NaCl solution during 24 h (salinity), watering deprived during 5 d (drought), or root inundated during 72 h (flooding). (a) Plants used for RNA extraction refer to those stress treated (by salinity (B); by drought (C); by flooding (D); by cold (E); or by heat (F)) and (A) for no stress-control. For each case one representative plant is presented. (b) The stress treatments effect on Sl-ERF.B.3 and three reference genes (CI7, ACO1, and Hsp21) expression level. The Sl-actin-51 transcripts in the same samples were used as internal control. Data are expressed as relative values, based on the values of control taken as reference sample set to 1.0. Pairwise comparisons were made between control and abiotic stress treated wild-type plants with Student's t-test (a: P < 0.05, b: P < 0.01). Data represent means and standard error of three replications.