Figure 4.

The Ah24 gene is expressed in rapidly developing tissues in intact and defoliated A. hypochondriacus plants. (A) Shows that the Ah24 gene is expressed in rapidly developing tissues, such as axilar meristems (AxM), young leaves (YL), panicles (P), and roots (R). The basal tissue-specific expression levels shown are relative to those detected in mature leaves (ML), whose expression was set at 1. Other tissues tested were young and mature stems (YS and MS, respectively) and intermediate leaves (IL). Solid bars show the strong expression of this gene in apical (AM) and axillar (AxM) meristems, but not in roots (B), and in emerging leaves (EL-1,-2, and -3; C) sampled from grain amaranth plants recovering from severe defoliation. Expression in defoliated plants (Df) was compared to the expression levels in equivalent tissues from intact plants (I), which were normalized to a value of 1, and shown as empty bars in (B). In (C), expression levels in defoliated plants are reported relative to young leaves (YL-c) of approximately the same age sampled from intact controls. EL-1, -2, and -3 were sampled at 3, 6, and 9 days after defoliation. The expression levels in the youngest leaf remaining in the apex of the defoliated plant (AL-d), which was sampled immediately after defoliation was completed, were also determined.