RNA-Seq of leaves of SRZ-inoculated maize seedlings (3dpi)
Maize leaf pieces of about 3 cm inoculated with SRS, SRZ or water control were collected at 3 dai in three biological replicates containing ten plants each. Samples were macerated in liquid nitrogen, and 100 mg of the resulting powder was used for RNA extraction using Trizol (Sigma). A clean-up step was performed using a Qiagen RNeasy Plus Mini Kit. The final RNA concentration was determined using a NanoDrop Spectrophotometer (Peqlab, Erlangen, Gemany), and RNA integrity was confirmed through denaturating agarose gel electrophoresis. Illumina sequencing was performed by Beckman Coulter Genomics (Danvers, MA, USA) using the paired-end sequencing protocol.