Fig. 1
Overexpression of OsPUB41 induces callose deposition and provides enhanced tolerance to Xoo infection in rice. Rice leaves were infiltrated with Agrobacterium LBA4404/pMDC7-OsPUB41 strain either with inducer (estradiol) or with DMSO (control). Twelve hours later, the leaves were stained with aniline blue and observed under an epifluorescence microscope. Bright spots in the images represent callose deposits (a). Scale bar represents 50 μm. The graph represents average number of callose deposits per field of view (0.075 mm2) from atleast ten leaves with six to eight different fields viewed per leaf in each experiment (b). Error bars represent standard error. Student’s two-tailed t-test for independent means was performed to test for significance (p < 0.05, represented by*). Similar results were obtained in three independent experiments. c. Xoo infections were carried out in midveins of leaves (n = 20–25) of 40-days-old TN-1 rice plants. The midveins were pre-injected with LBA4404/pMDC7-OsPUB41 with or without estradiol. After 12 h, these midveins were inoculated with Xoo (1–2 cm below the point where Agrobacterium was injected) by pricking with a needle dipped in a saturated Xoo culture. Yellowing represents bacterial blight lesions that were observed 12dpi. The graph represents average lesion lengths from at least twenty leaves in each experiment (d). Error bars represent standard error. Student’s two-tailed t-test for independent means was performed to test for significance (p < 0.05, ‘a’ and ‘b’ represent statistically different values). Similar results were obtained in three independent experiments