Figure 4

Expression level of genes involved in the OLIGO mechanism. The mRNA level of CMT1 (chromomethylase 1), CMT3 (chromomethylase 3), DME (Demeter), ROS1 (repressor of silencing 1), AGO1 (Argonaute 1), AGO4 (Argonaute 4), RDR2 (RNA-depended RNA polymerase 2) in flax treated with OLIGOs (B1, B2, B3 and B4) at 24 h (light grey bars) and 48 h (dark grey bars) after exposure to OLIGOs in comparison with control, non-treated flax and in EMO-βGlu flax (EB) (black bars) in comparison with control flax was obtained from the real-time RT-PCR analysis. Actin was used as a reference gene and the transcript levels were normalized to those of the control plant (C = 1; not presented in the figure). Data represent the mean ± standard deviations from three independent experiments. The significance of the differences between the means was determined using Student’s t test (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01). RQ – relative quantity.