Fig. 6.
Vegetative and reproductive growth of FUS3 phosphomutants is greatly affected at elevated temperatures. Phenotypic analysis of FUS3 phosphomutants germinated for 7 d on agar plates and transferred to soil under long days at elevated temperatures (27 °C/24 °C). (A) Vegetative growth of fus3-3 and FUS3S>A mutants is greatly affected at high temperature, as can be seen from reduced rosette size (first column), less erect inflorescences (second column), and increased numbers of shriveled seeds with occasional vivipary (white root shown by arrow) (third column) and lowered seedling establishment of the progeny (fourth column). Scale bars=(left to right) 1, 5, 0.1, 0.9 cm. (B) Seed yield is greatly reduced in fus3-3 and FUS3S>A plants compared with the wild type. n=8 plants; P<0.05 (Student’s t-test). (C) The progeny of FUS3 phosphomutants show lower seedling establishment (emergence of leaf primordia) 15 d after imbibition. The averages of three plates of 50 seeds ±SD are shown. (D) Relative transcript levels were measured by qPCR. Siliques were collected approximately at the bent cotyledon stage (9 DAP). The FUS3S>D transgene is expressed at higher levels compared with FUS3, while the FUS3S>A transgene (line 3) shows a lower expression level. (This figure is available in colour at JXB online.)