Table 4. Quantification of CLas bacterial titers following qPCR from leaf petiole and midribs of the transgenic plants and controls grown under field conditions in a high disease pressure test site.

The mean threshold cycle values (Ct) at specified time intervals are demonstrated.

	Transgenic line #2	Transgenic line #4	Transgenic line #9A	Transgenic line #11A	Transgenic line #18	Control
6 months	-	-	-	-	37.42±3.1	38.39±3.3
12 months	-	-	-	-	30.13±2.5	26.20±1.8
18 months	-	-	-	33.81±4.1	23.81±4.1	27.69±1.5
24 months	36.00 a	-	-	27.72±2.3	29.02±1.6	22.87±1.6
30 months	-	33.02±2.4	38.98 a	24.45±2.2	21.52±3.1	23.14± 2.3
36 Months	-	29.69±5.1	-	26.16±4.6	*	*

*; dead trees

a; only one replicate was PCR positive. Standard errors were calculated from three replicates.