Fig. 8. Disease symptoms (A) and transcript abundance (B) of the six candidate reference genes in the leaves of soybean cvs. W82 (Xag-resistant) and Jack (Xag-susceptible) under Xag strain EB08 treatment.

Disease symptoms were assessed at 120 and 240 h post treatment (hpt) with Xag strain EB08 (A) which was used as the virulent pathogen with 10 mM MgCl₂ being used as the mock treatment. RNA was extracted from soybean leaves at 0, 12, 24, 48, 72, and 120 hpt, and transcript abundance was quantified by qPCR in W82 under the mock (B) and Xag (C) treatments, and in Jack under the mock (D) and Xag (E) treatments. Ct values indicate the mean values of transcript abundance from three independent replicates ± standard errors (vertical bars)