Fig. 1

Overexpression of AHL9 causes early senescence in rosette leaves. A Leaf phenotypes of 32-d-old WT, AHL9-OE10 and AHL9-OE11 overexpressing plants. Scale bar = 1 cm. B Leaves detached from (A) and arranged according to their age. Rosette leaves were numbered from bottom to top with the first leaf being the oldest. Scale bar = 1 cm. C Representative images of the fourth and fifth rosette leaves detached from WT, AHL9-OE10 and AHL9-OE11 plants of the different ages. D Chlorophyll contents of the leaves shown in (C). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, Data indicate means ± SD, n = 3. Statistical analyses were performed using one-way ANOVA. Means with different letters above the bars indicate statistically significant results (P < 0.05). The experiment was conducted three times with similar results