Fig. 2

VIGS of PDS in Antirrhinum and Misopates. a A. majus plants were inoculated with TRV carrying an AmPDS fragment in antisense orientation at either the first-leaf stage or second-leaf stage (shown as Day 0). Plants at the first-leaf stage were also inoculated in a second experiment with TRV carrying the same AmPDS fragment in either sense or antisense orientation. Progression of VIGS (tissue bleaching) is shown in the same plants at 6 days and 12 days post inoculation with plants mock-inoculated at the 2-leaf stage shown below them for comparison. b Inoculation of M. orontium seedlings with TRV carrying the AmPDS antisense fragment caused bleaching within 12 days. c In around half of the M. orontium plants, VIGS of PDS persisted into the inflorescence (the shoot to the right). d TRV carrying AmPDS sequence reduced A. majus host AmPDS RNA abundance significantly, and sense and antisense orientation of AmPDS were equally effective. Values are the ratios of AmPDS to Ubiquitin1 (UBI) RNA for three biological replicates with two technical replicates of each. Median and quartile values are indicated. Differences between means were detected with ANOVA and Tukey Post-hoc tests. e VIGS of PDS in both A. majus and M. orontium reduced growth of tissue relative to neigbouring tissue that had remained green