Fig. 5

Virulence assays with VdSCP76 and VdSCP77 deletion mutant and complemented transformant strains of Verticillium dahliae on cotton. A Phenotypes of cotton seedlings inoculated with VdSCP76 and VdSCP77 gene deletion mutants and the complemented transformants. Three-week-old cotton (cv. Junmian 1) seedlings were inoculated with wild-type V. dahliae, VdSCP76, and VdSCP77 gene deletion mutants and complemented transformants, and the disease symptoms were observed at 3 weeks post-inoculation (wpi). The phenotypes of cotton are shown at the top and the discoloration of shoot longitudinal sections is shown at bottom. B The fungal biomass of V. dahliae in cotton was determined by quantitative PCR. C Expression of VdSCP76 and VdSCP77 during infection of cotton roots. Three-week-old cotton plants (cv. Junmian 1) were inoculated with wild-type V. dahliae Vd991 and the roots were harvested at different time points after inoculation. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR was performed to determine the expression levels of VdSCP76 and VdSCP77 relative to V. dahliae EF-1α. Error bars represent standard errors. *, **, and *** indicate statistical significance at P<0.05, P<0.01, and P<0.001, respectively, in controls and different treatments (between WT and each knockout mutant or complementary transformant, or between 0 dpi and each time point of infection) according to one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA)