*2.3. In vitro Seedling Assay*

## 2.3.1. Surface Disinfection of Seeds

The procedure for maize seed surface disinfection was similar to the detached tissue assay. Columbia-0 *Arabidopsis* seeds were surface sterilized for 5 min with 1.25% (*v*/*v*) NaOCl containing 0.1% (*v*/*v*) Triton X-100 for four min then rinsed four times with sterile water and sown in 0.1% ( *w*/*v*) sterile agar. All seeds were stratified at 4◦C for 3 days and then planted on Petri dishes containing 0.5× Murashigue and Skoog medium [25] supplemented with 0.5% ( *w*/*v*) sucrose and 1% ( *w*/*v*) agar (pH 5.8).

### 2.3.2. Inoculation of Maize and *Arabidopsis* Seeds by *Fusarium*

Surface-disinfected maize seeds were immersed in the conidia suspension for five minutes, and planted in in vitro culture container with sand, and cultivated at 25 ± 2◦C for 5 days. In the case of *Arabidopsis*, in vitro plants 2 weeks old were transferred into in vitro culture container with fertilized sand and inoculated with 200 uL of work suspensions and incubated at 25 ± 2◦C for 7 days. Before

every assay, both sand and fertilizer were autoclaved at 120◦C for 60 min. Photographs were recorded at 5 and 7 dpi for maize and *Arabidopsis*, respectively (Figure 1).
