FIG 4.

Infection assay performed with MoLAEA overexpression and knockdown strains. (A) Detached rice leaves (HR12) from 3-week-old rice seedlings were inoculated with hyphal plugs from wild-type, overexpression, and knockdown strains; the control (labeled “C”) contained only agar blocks. The disease symptoms were observed and photographed 5 dpi. (B) qRT-PCR analysis of the fungal biomass in the diseased rice leaves. (C) Ten-microliter volumes of spore suspensions (1 × 10⁵/ml) of the wild-type, overexpression, and knockdown strains were dropped onto detached rice leaves from 3-week-old rice seedlings, and the infected leaves were photographed 5 dpi. (D) Ten-microliter volumes of the spore suspensions were inoculated onto abraded rice leaves of 4-to-6-week-old rice seedlings. The rice plants were kept in the growth chamber at 25°C at 90% humidity for 7 days. Photographs were taken after 7 days. A gelatin solution was used for the control. (E) Five milliliters of the spore suspension (1 × 10⁵/ml) was sprayed on 3-week-old rice seedlings. The rice plants were kept in the growth chamber at 25°C at 90% humidity for 10 days. The lesion density was assessed after 10 days. The error bars represent standard deviations, and the asterisks indicate significant differences between the wild-type and mutant strains at P < 0.05. C, control.