Local and systemic infection of <i>A</i>. <i>thaliana</i> single <i>ago</i> mutants by TuMV-GFP and TuMV-AS9-GFP.

<p>(A) Schematic representation of the TuMV and TuMV-GFP genomes showing insertion of GFP between P1 and HC-Pro, and the AS9 mutation on HC-Pro. (B) Visualization of local infection of inoculated rosette leaves. Pictures were taken at 7 days post inoculation (dpi). Col-0 infected by TuMV-GFP is shown for comparison. The histogram shows average (+ SE) infection efficiency of 14 plants, each with four inoculated leaves. Infection efficiency by TuMV-GFP or TuMV-AS9-GFP is expressed relative to Col-0 (9.8 ± 2 foci per leaf) or to <i>dcl2–1 dcl3–1 dcl4–2</i> (3.5 ± 1.4 foci per leaf), respectively. For each virus, bars with the same letter are not statistically different (Tukey’s test with α = 0.05). (C) TuMV-AS9-GFP coat protein (CP) accumulation in noninoculated cauline leaves and in inflorescence at 15 dpi is determined by immunoblotting and expressed relative to <i>dcl2–1 dcl3–1 dcl4–2</i>. The histogram shows average (+ SE) of four biological replicates. Bars with the same letter are not statistically different (Tukey’s test with α = 0.05). The experiment was repeated twice with similar results.