Table 1.

Expression levels of NcCSE and NcHCT, and lignin and cellulose contents, in apical, middle and basal stem segments

Segment	NcHCT	NcCSE	Lignin (%)	Cellulose (%)
Apical	0.11 (0.03)	1.09 (0.17)	12.81 (1.33)	49.62 (3.45)
Middle	0.42 (0.12)***	4.74 (0.83)***	25.47 (2.75)***	39.93 (3.84)**
Basal	0.78 (0.21)***†††	4.25 (0.69)***	23.19 (3.37)***	42.55 (1.99)*

Apical, middle and basal indicate apical, middle and basal 10 cm segments of the stem. The data outside and in the brackets are mean value and SEM (n = 3), respectively

*, ^† Indicate significant differences (0.01 < p < 0.05) compared with, respectively, the apical and middle stem segments (** and ^†† 0.001 < p<0.01), and (*** and ^††† p < 0.001)