Molecular verification of <i>VdCYC8</i> deletion mutants, and comparison of <i>in vitro</i> growth of wild type strain Vd080 and the <i>CYC8</i> deletion mutant strains (Δ<i>CYC8-</i>45, Δ<i>CYC8-</i>55, Δ<i>CYC8-</i>56).

A) PCR verification of vdCYC8 deletion mutants with primer CYC8test-F/R. Lanes 1–6 indicate PCR from DNA template extracted from strains ΔCYC8-45, ΔCYC8-55, ΔCYC8-56, Vd080, T286, and the positive control pGKO2-CYC8 plasmid, respectively. The molecular weight marker (M) is 1kb ladder. B) Tested with primer Hyg-F/R. C) Reverse-transcription PCR analysis of CYC8 expression in strains ΔCYC8-45 (lane 1), ΔCYC8-55 (lane 2), ΔCYC8-56 (lane 3), Vd080 (lane 4), T286 (lane 5), respectively. The V. dahliae β-tubulin (Bt), amplified using primers VerBt-F/R, is shown as a control. D) Characteristics of growth of different isolates of the V. dahliae CYC8 mutant strains on PDA.