Fig. 8

Heterologous expression of SiATG8a in rice enhanced tolerance to nitrogen starvation conditions. a and b 3-week old seedlings of control rice plants and transgenic plants grown in normal Hoagland solution were sub cultured in N-deficient liquid medium for 21 days. Statistical analysis of data for transgenic plants and wild type are shown for (c) protein content of the whole plant. d Aboveground total nitrogen content. e Root total nitrogen content. f Fresh weight. g Plant height. h Total surface area of roots. i Survival rate. For statistical analyses, the SAS 9.3 software package was used. Data presented in (c-i) are means ± SD from three independent experiments, and different letters above the columns indicate significant differences at the P ≤ 0.05 level. NS: N sufficient, ND: N deficient