Fig. 2.

Patterns of VRN1 expression in non-vernalized WT and exe mutant plants at the 1-leaf to 6-leaf stages. The data at the 2-leaf stage are missing. The expression level of VRN1 was determined by real-time PCR. The Ubiquitin (Ubi-1) gene was used as an internal control for calculating the relative levels of expression of the VRN1 gene. Means and standard errors are indicated. The dotted lines indicate the expression level of VRN1 at the phase transition, i.e, the threshold for flowering competence. (A) Expression patterns in seedlings at each leaf stage under LD conditions. Leaf stage numbers (1L, 3L, etc.) are shown for exe4 only. (B) Expression patterns in seedlings at each leaf stage under SD conditions. Leaf stage numbers (1L, 3L, etc.) are shown for exe4 only. ANOVA (analysis of variance) was performed to detect the difference of gene expression level at the 3L and 4L stages. The same superscript means not significantly different (p = 0.05) from each other when Fisher’s LSD (least significant difference) analysis is applied.