Fig. 4: MdATG18a overexpression induced SA synthesis and increased the expression of SA-related PR genes.

SA content was measured at 10 dpi. Expression of MdICS1, MdEDS1, MdPR1, and MdPR5 was analyzed at 6 dpi. Expression levels were calculated relative to the expression of Malus EF-1α mRNA. Expression in WT under control conditions was set to “1”. Data are means of three replicates with SD. Experimental data were presented as means ± SD. Different letters indicate significant differences between treatments, according to one-way ANOVA Tukey’s multiple range tests (P < 0.05)