Fig. 5

SPL13 silencing regulates drought by coordinated metabolite, transcript, and physiological adjustments. a Leaf water potential in SPL13RNAi and EV plants; b dark adapted chlorophyll florescence, Fv/Fm, during drought stress; c total monomeric anthocyanin expressed as cyanidin-o-glucoside equivalent (CG); and d total polyphenol content expressed as gallic acid equivalent (GAE); e transcript levels of PHENYLALANINE AMMONIA-LYASE, PAL, and DIHYDROFLAVONOL-4-REDUCTASE, DFR; f FLAVONOID GLUCOSYLTRANSFERASE2, FGT2, and DEHYDRATION RESPONSIVE RD-22-LIKE, DRR; g MYB112 and WD40–1 transcription factor genes from the phenylpropanoid pathway in stems of SPL13RNAi and EV genotypes; h transcript levels of PHOTOSYSTEM I p700 CHLOROPHYLL A APOPROTEIN APS I, PSI, and PHOTOSYSTEM II Q(b), PSII under drought stress; i schematic representation of potential SPL13 binding sites in the promoter region of DFR, j ChIP-qPCR based fold enrichment analysis of SPL13 in p35S:SPL13-GFP and WT plants from means of n = three individual plants where LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARES-1, LOB1, is used as a negative control. Values are means ± SE, light gray bars in ‘a’, ‘c’ and ‘d’ represent values under well-watered condition while dark gray bars represent values under drought stressed conditions. Relative transcript levels in ‘e’, ‘f’, ‘g’ and ‘h’ are shown relative to EV after being normalized to acetyl-CoA carboxylase, ACC1, and ACTIN housekeeping genes. ANOVA p values are provided in Additional file 2: Table S5.2, S5.7 and S5.8. Significant difference in Post hoc Tukey multiple comparisons test is indicated with different letters. Letters in multiple time point data of ‘b’ is analyzed separately