Fig. 3. MdATG18a overexpression resulted in reduced H₂O₂ accumulation and increased antioxidant activity and AsA-GSH cycling upon D. mali infection.

a H₂O₂ concentrations and H₂O₂-scavenging enzymes activity. b Concentrations of antioxidants and transcript levels for genes involved in AsA-GSH cycle. H₂O₂-scavenging enzymes and concentrations of antioxidants were measured at 10 dpi. Expression levels were calculated relative to the expression of Malus EF-1α mRNA at 6 dpi. Expression in WT under control conditions was set to “1”. Data are means of three replicates with SD. Experimental data were presented as means ± SD. Different letters indicate significant differences between treatments, according to one-way ANOVA Tukey’s multiple range tests (P < 0.05)