Figure 11.

qPCR analysis of mRNA levels of GhVIN1 and GhVIN2 (A) and genes involved in trehalose metabolism (B) in 10-DAA wild-type (WT) and GhVIN1-RNAi cotton seed coat and filial tissue. Seeds from one cotton boll were used as one biological replicate. Note that the 10-d seeds from a given cotton boll in the transgenic line comprised two populations: underdeveloped seeds and viable seeds, which were visually indistinguishable by eye at 10 DAA. Compared with that in the wild type, GhVIN1 expression was reduced dramatically in some replicates of each transgenic line (replicates a) but was comparable or at the same order of magnitude as in the wild type in other replicates (replicates b). Data represent means ± se of at least three biological samples. Asterisks indicate significant differences (one-way ANOVA; *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01; and ***, P < 0.001) between RNAi and wild-type plants.