Fig. 8.

Disease phenotype in ClMPK- and ClMKK-transiently expressed N. benthamiana leaves after inoculation with B. cinerea. Agrobacteria harboring different constructs containing ClMPKs, ClMKKs or eGFP (a negative control) or similar volume of buffer (a negative control) were infiltrated into leaves of 4-week-old N. benthamiana plants and the agroinfiltrated leaves were collected for analyzing the expression of ClMPKs and ClMKKs and for disease assays with B. cinerea. a Expression levels of selected ClMPKs and ClMKKs in agroinfiltrated leaves. Leaf sample were collected at 24 h after agroinfiltration and relative expressions as folds of the actin transcript level are presented as the means ± SD from three independent experiments. nd, expression of the ClMPKs and ClMKKs in eGFP-infiltrated leaves was not detectable. b Disease phenotype and c lesion sizes on detached leaves and d fungal growth in the inoculated leaves. The agroinfiltrated leaves were detached at 2 days after agroinfiltration and disease assays were performed by dropping 5 μL of spore suspension (1 × 10⁵ spores/mL). Photos were taken and lesion sizes were recorded at 4 days after inoculation. Fungal growth in inoculated leaves was assumed by analyzing the transcripts of BcActin gene by qRT-PCR using NbActin as an internal control at 4 days after inoculation. Data presented in c and d are the means ± SD from three independent experiments and ** on the columns indicate significant difference at p ≤ 0.05 between ClMPK/ClMKK- and eGFP-infiltrated plants