SA-mediated basal defense responses are altered by miR168a. (A) Constitutive expression of PR genes and PAL in 35SCaMV::MIR168a or STTM168 leaves and in leaves of non-infiltrated (WT) and empty vector control (Vector). Data were normalized to EF-1α. (B and C) Accumulation of PR1 at different time points after SA treatment (B) or B. dothidea inoculation (C) in infiltrated and non-infiltrated leaves. The expression level in non-infiltrated leaves in response to mock inoculation was set at a value of 1.0. EF-1α was used as the internal control. Asterisks in (A) indicate significant differences in expression relative to the expression in non-infiltrated leaves. Significant differences between the constitutive expression levels of the PR1 gene and that at different time points in the different treatments are indicated by an asterisk in (B) and (C) (*P ≤ 0.05; **P ≤ 0.01). Data represent the mean ± SD of three biological replicates (n = 3).