in liquid nitrogen tissue samples using the AccuZol Total RNA Extraction Kit (Bioneer,
Korea), and then cDNA was synthesized based on the manufacturer’s recommendations using a
commercially available kit (Fermentas, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, USA). The
real-time PCR was carried out using RealQ Plus 2×Master Mix Green (Amplicon, Denmark) on
the LightCycler® 96 Instrument (Roche, Life Science, Sandhofer, Germany). Briefly, PCR
reactions were conducted at 20 µl as final volume, containing SYBR Green master mix (10
µl), 1 µl cDNA, and 2 µl of specific primers, and 7 µl ddH2 O. The PCR
reactions were set at the following program: 95°C (5 minutes), followed by 40 cycles at
95°C (30 seconds), 57°C (30 seconds), and 72°C (40 seconds). To analyze the relative gene
expression data for mRNA, we used the Livak-Schmittgen (22 (link)) equation to calculate the
2−ΔΔCT, which compares two values in the exponent, then the obtained data
were used for further analysis of gene expression levels. Specific primers were designed
using the Primer-BLAST tool available from the NCBI for target genes sequences in the
GenBank databases (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). The primer sets (forward and reverse) for
real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) are
presented in supplementary Table 1.