Back Article

Figure 1. 

Light microscopic images of 1 μm thick sections of P. grandiflorus nectaries stained with lugol reagent. Starch granules are shown in the control, and auxin treatments in pre-secretory parenchymal cells. Ep-Epidermal layer; Bar = 100 μm.

Figure 2. 

Quantification of starch accumulation differences among control, and auxin treatments via ImageJ software (area/optical density). The Image J online browser was used. Image > Type (8-bit) > Adjust > Threshold (set 70 for iodine stain) > select rectangle tool to select the region > Measure. Use the tracing tool to select similar regions in treatment groups and measure. Quantification was carried out in three different spots unanimously, and the readings were taken. * Represents statistical significance between the treatments.

Figure 3. 

Heat map showing highly upregulated and downregulated genes (auxin vs control). Sucrose transported genes STP1 and STP2 are found to be highly upregulated under auxin treatment.

Figure 4. 

Validation of −log₂FC RNA-Seq values with the −log₂FC qRT-PCR gene expression values. The qRT-PCR results (both upregulated and downregulated genes) show high correlation with RNA-Seq data, as denoted by an R² value of 0.8075. Genes used for qRT-PCR include, upregulation-STP1, STP2, and ABCG1; downregulation-SPC1, CNGC2, and BKK1.

Figure 5. 

(a) Volume of nectar as physically measured using a micropipette. (b) Total sugar concentration in the nectaries treated with control and auxin treatment.

Figure 6. 

Sugar component analysis from the nectar obtained (control and auxin [100 uM] treatments). Sugar components were detected using the HPLC method. * Represents statistical significance between the treatments.

Figure 7. 

Graphical illustration of the auxin treatment in the nectaries of P. grandiflorus.