Fig. 4

Silencing of GhYGL1d showed variegated leaves. a Cotton plants infiltrated with CLCrVA:GhYGL1d (GhYGL1d-RNAi) showed variegated leaves. The photographs were taken at approximately five weeks after infiltration. Wildtype plants transformed by an empty CLCrVA vector was used as the control. Scale bars are 2 cm. b qRT-PCR analysis of GhYGL1d transcripts in RNAi plants. The GhUBQ7 gene was used as a reference. The values shown are means ± SE of three biological replicates. Significant differences between RNAi plants and CLCrVA control plants were calculated using Student’s t-test: ***, P < 0.001; (C) Chlorophyll contents in gene-silenced plants. FW, fresh weight. Chl a, chlorophyll a. Chl b, chlorophyll b. Values are means ± SD of three replicates. Student’s t-test: ***, P < 0.001;