Figure 6

Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of Actinodium CYC -like genes. Analysis was run throughout the reproductive gradient (colored bars) from outside in (left to right), as well as the involucral bracts (white bars) directly below the pseudanthium. A. AcCYC1a and AcCYC1b (both CYC1-clade genes) show high expression levels in the two outermost ray-like short shoots as compared to inner short-shoots of the pseudanthium. Among the different samples dissected for the study, expression of AcCYC1a is highest in the outer short-shoots of the pseudanthium whereas AcCYC1b is most prominent in the involucral bracts below them. B. AcCYC2 (aCYC2-clade gene) shows strong expression levels throughout all short-shoots within the pseudanthium, although expression lessens significantly in the innermost shoots. The relative expression levels are normalized against ACTIN (accession JQ772504). Bars represent the means of three independent experiments (± standard deviation) including two technical replicates per sample. For each gene, the expression levels are presented as fold differences relative to expression in the lowest expressing sample, which was set to 1. The analyses were repeated using another ACTIN sequence (accession JQ772505) for normalization, with similar results.