Fig. 4

Ectopic expression of OsPUB41 results in enhanced tolerance to R. solani infection in Arabidopsis. Fifteen-days-old Arabidopsis seedlings (Col-0 and OsPUB41 transgenics) were infected with R. solani, in either the presence or absence of the inducer (Estradiol) of OsPUB41 expression. Seven-days-post infection, the seedlings were stained with Trypan Blue and imaged using a light microscope. A scale with scores ranging from 0 to 3 was used to assess the extent of fungal infection. Score 0 = no hyphae, 1 = few unconnected hyphae, 2 = sparse continuous network of hyphae and 3 = dense network of hyphae (a). Scale bar represents 50 μm. The graph represents the frequency (as a percentage) of a particular score from ten seedlings with forty different fields viewed per seedling in each experiment (b). Scores of 0, 1, 2 and 3 are represented in the graph by black, dark grey, light grey and white respectively. Similar results were observed in three independent experiments (per transgenic line) and in three independent transgenic lines. One-way ANOVA was used to test for significance, followed by Tukey-Kramer honestly significant difference test (p < 0.05, represented by*)