Fig. 5.

Silencing efficiency and stability of the pV190 VIGS vector with different length inserts in bottle gourd. Fragments of 69 bp (dsRNA hairpin structure), 150 bp, 213 bp, 300 bp were separately cloned into pV190. a Silencing PDS using pV190 on bottle gourd plants produced photobleaching that persisted for over 70 days. Bar = 4 cm, b Photobleaching on newly emerging leaves of bottle gourd plants caused by PDS silencing was observed at 29, 34, 41, 48 and 54 dpi, respectively. Bar = 2, 1, 2 and 2 cm. c RT-PCR assay to detect the presence of pV190 carrying PDS fragments of different sizes in systemic leaves. Samples from the 4rd leaf above the inoculated (L4) were collected at 29 dpi; L6, L7 and L8 samples were collected at 34 dpi, L9 sample was collected at 41 dpi, L10 at 48 dpi, L11 and L12 at 54 dpi. M: Marker2000; EV: Empty vector (pV190). d Relative expression level of PDS mRNA in the above indicated leaves determined by real-time qRT-PCR