Fig. 4

The potential lncRNAs and genes for fiber initiation. a and b Venn diagrams showed the common lncRNAs and genes in DELs and DEGs from comparisons of “ZM24_0 vs fl_0” and “ZM24_0 vs ZM24_-2”, respectively. gU represented the up-regulated genes. c The KEGG pathways of the commonly targeted genes of lncRNA and the common DEGs. d qPCR experiments confirmed the expression profiles of the common lncRNA (MSTRG.2723.1), its target genes, and some DEGs that enriched in fatty acid elongation and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. The GhHistone3 (AF024716) gene was used as a reference gene, and the data were shown as mean ± SD. The student’s t-test was used for the significance statistic