Fig. 3

Silencing PDS and DCL4 gene in Arabidopsis simultaneously through the CPB1B-based VIGS vectors and its effect on virus replication. a Images of plants recorded at 51 dpi. At 51 dpi, the photobleaching is observed in the upper leaves of all plants inoculated with CPB1BGUS, and the rosette of CPB1BGUS-infected plants is substantially smaller than that of uninfected plants. However, the photobleaching is not observed in the CPB1BDCL4A- and CPB1BDCL4B-infected plants, but all infected plants show severe symptoms of virus infection as CPB1BGUS-infected plants. b qRT-PCR analysis of PDS and DCL4 expression levels in the upper uninoculated leaves of CPB1B-based VIGS vector-infected plants at 14 dpi. Expression is normalized against AtActin1 gene was used as an internal control. All values represent means ± SD from three independent biological replicates and asterisks denote significantly different from the control group (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01). c The viral RNA accumulation levels in the upper uninoculated leaves of CPB1B-based VIGS vector-infected plants at 14 dpi. EB ethidium bromide-stained Northern gel, gRNA genomic RNA, sgRNA subgenomic RNA