Pathogenicity assessment of ΔMoppe1 and ΔMosap1 mutants with constitutively activated MoMps1 through expressing MKK1T369D, T375D. A. Rice spraying assay as described in Fig. 2, experiments were performed three times independently and exhibit similar results. B. Quantification of lesion types. The error bars represent the standard deviations and asterisks represent significant difference (p < 0.01). C. Phosphorylation test of MoMps1 in the Guy11, ΔMoppe1 mutant and ΔMoppe1/MoMkk1DD strains. D. Phosphorylation levels of MoMps1 in Guy11, ΔMosap1 and ΔMosap1/MoMkk1DD strains. E. Observation of infection in rice sheaths. Excised rice leaf sheaths harvested from 4 week-old rice seedlings were inoculated with a conidial suspension (1 × 105 spores/ml each), and the invasive hyphae growth was examined at 36 hpi. Percentages of different types of infectious hyphae in rice cells (n = 50), error bars represent the standard deviations.