PeerJ-RT-PCR.xlsx

We randomly selected five DEGs (<i>Zm00001d005841</i>, <i>Zm00001d053932</i>, <i>Zm00001d053939</i>, <i>Zm00001d048407</i>, and <i>Zm00001d026370</i>) to conduct qRT-PCR and obtain their relative expression levels in the collected samples.The qRT-PCR was carried out by the Applied Biosystems 7500 Real-Time PCR System, with the reaction program as follows: 2 min at 98 °C, 2 s at 98 °C, 10 s at 59 °C, 40 cycles.A thermal denaturing step was then performed for generation of the melting curves for amplification specificity verification. The maize actin1 gene was selected as the reference for normalizing the gene expression. Three technical replicates were set for all of the reactions. The 2^-^△△CT method was used for calculation of the relative expression levels of target genes (Livak &amp; Schmittgen 2001).<br>