Fig. 1: miR159 controls the duration of the cell division phase and flower opening in rose.

a Small RNA blot analysis of miR159 abundance in rose petals 1, 3, and 5 days after floral buds reached stage 0. Locked Nucleic Acids (LNA)-modified oligonucleotide probe was used to ensure the specificity of miR159. U6 was used as an internal control. The experiment was performed three times. b Reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis of miR159 levels in sepals (3 days after stage 0) of TRV and TRV-STTM159 plants. Data are shown as means ± SD (n = 4). 5 S rRNA was used as an internal control. Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences (two-sided Student’s t-test; ****P < 0.0001). c, d Flower opening progression of TRV and TRV-STTM159 plants. The experiments were performed independently twice with similar results, and one representative set of results is shown. Scale bars, 2 cm. Data are shown as means ± SD (n = 10). Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences (two-sided Student’s t-test; ***P < 0.001). e Petal size of TRV control and TRV-STTM159 plants at the fully opened stage. Data are shown as means ± SD (n = 3). The numbers below the images indicate petal size. Scale bar, 1 cm. Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences (two-sided Student’s t-test; *P < 0.05). f, g Cell number on the adaxial epidermis (f) and abaxial epidermis (g) in TRV control and TRV-STTM159 petals from 1 day after floral stage 0 to the fully opened stage. Data are shown as means ± SD (n = 3). Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences (two-sided Student’s t-test; *P < 0.05).