Figure 7.

Expression of defense genes in Solanum lycopersicum cv. Micro-Tom plants treated with Pep 4 (A) and subsequently infected with Botrytis cinerea (B,C). Peptide treatments were performed by spraying 50 μM Pep 4 in water containing 0.01% v/v Silwet L-77 AG. Pathogen inoculations were performed by spraying a conidial suspension of B. cinerea. Hpt, hours post treatment; hpi, hours post infection. Control, water containing 0.01% v/v Silwet L-77 AG. Mock inoculations were performed by spraying the fungal culture medium potato dextrose broth. Genes analyzed: 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate oxidase 1(ACO1), Lipoxygenase A (Lox1.1), Pathogenesis-related protein 1 (PR1), Pathogenesis-related genes transcriptional activator 5 (PTI5), Polygalacturonase inhibitor protein (PGIP), Proteinase inhibitor II (PIN2), and Beta-1,3-glucanase A (GluA). Actin-7 was used as the endogenous reference gene for normalization. Control (A) or control + mock (B,C) were used as the calibrator sample (grey bars) for calculations. Average fold change values from three biological replicates (different plants) and two technical replicates ±SEM are shown. Statistical analysis was performed by t-test by comparing to the calibrator sample. Significant differences are marked by asterisk (p < 0.05).