Total RNAs (3 µg) were used for generating cDNAs in a 20 µl volume reaction according to Invitrogen Superscript II Reverse Transcriptase protocol. The obtained cDNAs were diluted five times, and 1 µl were used for 10 µl qPCR reaction.
qPCR was performed in 10 µl final volume using 5 µl SYBR Green mix (Sigma), 1 µl diluted cDNAs, and primers. qPCR was run on the CFX96 Real-Time System C1000 thermal cycler (Biorad) using the following program: (1) 95°C, 3 min; (2) [95°C, 30 sec, then 60°C, 30 sec, then 72°C, 30 sec]×45, 72°C, 10 min followed by a temperature gradient from 55°C to 95°C. The relative expression values were determined using EF-1α (At5g60390) as a reference gene and the comparative cycle threshold method (2−ΔΔCt). Primers used for qPCR are listed in