Extended Data Fig. 5: Gene expression analysis on leaf tissue harvested from the plots in September 2018.

(a) Transcript abundance measured using quantitative RT- PCR for xplA and (b) xplB expression. Conditions were as described earlier⁵⁵, with transcripts normalized to the switchgrass reference gene eIF-4a. Error bars represent mean ± SE, n = 12 of triplicate measurements on single wild type (WT) plants from each of plots 4, 7 and13; and triplicate measurements on single plants from plots 2, 23 and 26 for each transgenic line. A two-tailed t-test showed the transgenic lines N1, N2 and N5 were significantly different (*) from WT (for xplA, P = < 0.00000 for N1, 0.00029 for N2, and 0.02198 for N5; for xplB, P = < 0.00000 for N1 and N2, P = 0.00018 for N5). (c) Western blot analysis conducted as described earlier⁵⁵ using XplA antibody⁵⁶ and RuBisCO large subunit antibody (AS03 037, Agrisera, Sweden). Band intensities for each line, and antibody, were quantified using ImageJ software⁵⁷. Error bars represent ± SE, n = 8 replicate blots. A two-tailed t-test showed the transgenic lines N1, N2 and N5 were significantly different (*) from WT (P = 0.00018, 0.00008 and 0.00002 respectively).