Fig. 2

Disease symptoms of the spr9 mutant and R20-1 infected by U. virens. a: Rice smut resistance of the spr9 mutant and R20-1 plants using injected inoculation in a greenhouse. Three replications were carried out, each individual was artificially inoculated with U. virens in three panicles. Inoculated plants were kept in a greenhouse at 27 °C with 90–100% RH for 7 days. Then, they were placed at 27 °C and 80% RH until rice false smut symptoms appeared. b: The disease score of the spr9 mutant is 3 and that of R20-1 is 4. The spr9 mutant exhibited more resistance to rice smut than R20-1. Asterisks indicate statistical significance (p < 0.01) determined by Student’s t-test