Fig. 2

Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) validation of RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) data in the moderately resistant (MR) and susceptible (S) chickpea lines following infection with Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. Log₂(fold change) (LogFC) values were generated for qPCR samples by comparing the expression of genes at each time point of infection vs the in vitro control sample using the 2 ^-∆∆Ct method (a). LogFC values were generated for RNA-Seq samples by comparing the average raw read counts at each time point of infection vs in vitro/vegetative growth culture (b). Pairwise contrasts were performed using quasi-likelihood F tests. The data are presented as means ± standard error (SE) from three biological replicates for 12 hpi (early stage of infection) and 48 hpi (late stage of infection)