Fig. 2: Overexpression of ZmGA2ox7.3 causes dwarf plants.

a Schematic diagram of the overexpression construct pUbi:ZmGA2ox7.3-GFP. b, c Confirmation of seven transgenic events overexpressing ZmGA2ox7.3 (n = 3). The relative expression levels of ZmGA2ox7.3 in the transgenic lines (b). Immunoblot analysis of the exogenous ZmGA2ox7.3-GFP using an anti-GFP antibody, and of the actin protein using an anti-actin antibody (c). The B73 recipient line served as a negative control. A biological replicate in the B73 serve as a control sample for relative expression (b). d, e Plant heights of the transgenic lines overexpressing ZmGA2ox7.3. Statistical analysis of plant heights comparing B73 with the transgenic lines (d). The plant morphology of both B73 and the transgenic lines (e). Scale bar, 30 cm. f Measurement of internode lengths of B73 (n = 6) and ZmGA2ox7.3 overexpression line OE-5 plants (n = 7), starting from the uppermost internode (the first stem node) and progressing downwards. g, h Characteristics of cells in the uppermost internode. Images of transections comparing B73 with OE-5 (g). Statistical analysis of cell lengths between B73 and OE-5 (h). Scale bar, 500 μm (white dashed line). In (b, f), data represent the mean ± s.e.m, individual data points are depicted. In (d), box plots are displayed. Error bars represent the maximum and minimum values; the central lines show the medians; and the box edges denote the 25th and 75th percentiles. In (h), data are shown as violin plots with individual data points. Statistical differences (P < 0.05) are highlighted using different lowercase letters, as determined by Kruskal-Wallis test (b, d). Significance levels are determined by a two-tailed Student’s t-test (f) and two-sided Mann–Whitney U test (f, h).