Fig. 9

Early senescent phenotype and senescence-related gene expression analysis in WT and RNAi_S5H transgenic lines 14 and 16. A Representative images and B evolution of senescence in WT and RNAi_S5H tomato leaflets. The percentage of leaflets of same appearance with respect to the total of leaflets corresponding to the third, fourth and fifth leaves of the WT and RNAi_SlS5H transgenic tomato plants at 4, 6, 8 and 10 weeks post-germination (wpg) is shown. “GREEN” refers to the natural color of the tomato leaves, “YELLOW” when the leaves begin to age and acquire yellowish spots, “ORANGE” is the time when the leaf turns completely yellow, “BROWN” when necrotic lesions appear due to aging and “DEAD” defines those leaves that have detached from the plant or that are completely necrotic. Expression levels of PR1 (C), SAG12 (D) and NOR (E) are shown for WT plants and RNAi_SlS5H transgenic lines 14 and 16, 4 weeks after germination. The qRT-PCR values were normalized with the level of expression of the actin gene. The expression levels correspond to the mean ± the standard error of a representative experiment (n = 3). Statistically significant differences (p-value < 0.05) between genotypes are represented by different letters