Fig. 2

Evaluation of Citrus HLB-resistance in transgenic plants. A Healthy wild-type (WT) and transgenic plants before CaLas-infected. B Quantitative analysis of CaLas growth in transgenic plants at 3, 6, 9 and 12 months after infection (MAI). The bacterial populations (CaLas cells µg.⁻¹ of citrus DNA) were determined using qPCR. C HLB symptoms in the transgenic plants and WT controls at 9 MAI. D Statistic analysis of symptoms in the leaves at 16 MAI. Percentage (%) of symptomatic leaves per plant was calculated by the number of symptomatic leaves out of the total number of leaves. Bars represent the average ± standard error of the means from three plants per line (n = 3). WT, wild type; OE-#, transgenic plants. Different letters at the top of the bars indicate significant differences from the WT control (p < 0.05, Student’s t-test)