Figure 3.

Mutant gae6 and gae1 gae6 Plants Have Brittle Leaves.

(A) Depiction of the assay for brittleness of gae mutant leaves. Fully expanded leaves of 4- to 5-week-old plants were bent by 180° so that the adaxial surface of the leaf was parallel with the soil. Broken leaf petioles or midribs were considered brittle.

(B) Quantification of broken midribs or petioles. For each genotype, 66 to 82 leaves were analyzed for brittleness as described in (A). Bars represent the ratio of broken to total number of leaves tested. Results were analyzed using Fisher’s exact test. Letters indicate significantly different groups at P < 0.05.

(C) Conductivity measurements. Leaves of 4-week-old plants were inoculated with deionized water and then leaf discs were cut out and placed on deionized water. Conductivity was measured at the indicated time points. After 30 min, the water was replaced with fresh water (30 min fresh weight) to account for wounding-related ion leakage from the edges of the leaf discs. Three independent experiments with six biological replicates each were performed and data were analyzed using a t test for each time point. P values were corrected using the Bonferroni method. Data show means ± se; asterisks indicate significant differences from wild-type Col-0 at q < 0.01.