Fig. 6

Cotyledon-VIGS of ChlH genes in G. inflata and A. annua. (a) Phenotypes of empty vector control (TRV) and GiChlH-VIGS (TRV-GiChlH) seedlings. (b) Relative expression of GiChlH in the control and GiChlH-VIGS cotyledons. (c) Concentration of chlorophylls a (Chl a) and b (Chl b) in the control and GiChlH-VIGS cotyledons. (d) Phenotypes of TRV control and AaChlH-VIGS (TRV-AaChlH) seedlings. (e) Relative expression of AaChlH in the control and AaChlH-VIGS cotyledons. (f) Concentration of Chl a and Chl b in control and AaChlH-VIGS cotyledons. In a and d, the yellow cotyledons of the VIGS seedlings are consistent with the chlorophyll extractions showing in the inserts of c and f (Left, TRV control; right, ChlH-VIGS). Relative expression was measured using RT-qPCR, and the A. annua and G. inflata Actin genes were used as an internal reference. The values represent means ± SD from three biological replicates. For each biological replicate, entire cotyledons were pooled from 8–9 seedlings (16–17 cotyledons) for A. annua, and 4–5 seedlings (8–10 cotyledons) for G. inflata. Statistical significance was calculated using Student’s t test (* P < 0.05 and ** P < 0.01)