Fig. 4

Validation of the miR156 targeted SPL genes in miR156OE plants using qRT-PCR. (a) Fold change comparison of transcript levels of seven SPL genes between NGS results and qRT-PCR validation, “--” indicates the FC was not significant to be detected. The relative transcript level of the newly discovered SPLs (b) MsSPL2, (c) MsSPL3, (d) MsSPL4, and (e) MsSPL9. The relative transcript level of the previously established SPLs (f) MsSPL6, (g) MsSPL12, and (h) MsSPL13. Relative gene transcript levels were analyzed using the 2^-∆CT method. Means of three independent biological repeats were used in this study. The student t test was used to analyze the significant differences of each tested gene between WT and miR156OE genotypes A11 and A17 (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01)