Fig. 3

Results of the low-throughput VIGS screening for functional lncRNAs in G. hirsutum. A: Bar chart showing the numbers of functional and non-functional lncRNAs that exhibited differences in the low-throughput VIGS screening. B: The dot plot on the left shows the lncRNA expression distribution in leaves and ovules. Red dots: lncRNA candidates in the preselection for VIGS. Grey dots: all other lncRNAs. The dot plots on the right show the respective expression distributions of functional and non-functional lncRNAs in leaves and ovules. Blue dots: functional lncRNAs. Grey dots: non-functional lncRNAs. C: VIGS positive controls, TRV2::CLA and TRV2::GhGoPGF1. D: Photo of VIGS-treated seedlings (n = 16) for two lncRNAs potentially affecting plant height. E-H: Photos of VIGS-treated seedlings (n = 16) for four lncRNAs potentially involved in abiotic stress response. AT, after stress treatment; BT, before stress treatment; RE, after recovery from stress treatment. I: Histogram showing relative expression of lncRNAs compared with the TRV2 vector control after VIGS. Data are shown as the means and SDs of three biological replicates. Two asterisks indicate significant difference between samples (Student’s t-test, **, p < .01)