Fig. 5

Analysis of defense gene expression and disease symptoms in naïve cauline leaves challenged with A. brassicicola. Ten days old WT plants MS for 7-days was allowed to grow without further stimulation until 2–3 cauline leaves emerged from the primary floral stem. The 1st and/or 2nd cauline leaves from MS-treated and control plants were inoculated with 5 μL of 3.5 × 10⁴ spores/mL^− 1 of A. brassicicola. A, B The relative expression of pathogen-related defense genes in cauline leaves from control, and MS plants, 2 dpi. C Three days post-inoculation, cauline leaves were stained with lactophenol trypan blue to reveal the necrotic lesion area. Representative cauline leaves are displayed from two experiments showing similar results. Gene expression levels were normalized to the β-ACTIN housekeeping gene. Error bars show the standard error of the mean (n = 4). Letters are statistical differences between treatments with Bonferroni test using ANOVA, P < 0.05. The experiment was performed twice with similar results