Figure 9
Effect of virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) of BRI1 in the barley cultivar Akashinriki and its uzu derivatives on Fusarium infection of seedling leaves as assessed in a detached leaf experiment. Plants were treated with viral application FES buffer, FES plus empty virus (BSMV:00) or FES plus virus targeting BRI1 for silencing (BSMV:BRI1 & BSMV:BRI2 - two constructs containing independent fragments of the BRI1 gene). At 14 days post VIGS treatment, 3rd leaf was cleaved off for RNA extraction and used for gene expression studies and the detached leaf assay. (A) BRI1 expression was quantified. (B) By 3 days after F. culmorum inoculation, infected area was more evident on gene-silenced as compared to empty virus treated samples of uzu and (C) this was quantified based on the pixel count using Image J software [41] (2000 pixel = 0.1 cm2). Bars indicate SEM (LSD 0.05 A = 0.009, C = 0.254).