FIGURE 9.

Attenuation of SA-induced defense response in AtERF15-Ri plants. (A) and (B) Attenuated SA-induced resistance against Pst DC3000 in the AtERF15-Ri plants. Four-week-old plants were treated by 1 mM SA or water and then infiltration-inoculated with Pst DC3000 (OD₆₀₀ = 0.002) 24 hr later. (A) Disease symptom in representative inoculated leaves at 4 dpi and (B) bacterial populations in inoculated leaves. (C) Expression changes of defense genes after SA treatment. Four-week-old Col-0 and AtERF15-Ri plants were treated with 1 mM SA and expression of defense genes was analyzed using qRT-PCR. The transcript data obtained were normalized with the value of a reference AtActin gene and relative expression of the defense genes as shown as folds of the AtActin gene. Data presented are the means ± SD from three independent experiments and and different letters above the columns indicate significant differences at p < 0.05 level between the AtERF15-Ri and Col-0 plants.