*4.5. RNA Isolation and Quantification*

A pool of plants of the three different lines was ground with mortar and pestle in liquid nitrogen. According to the manufacturer's instructions, two independent total RNA extractions were performed from each pool using the kit NucleoSpin RNA plant (Macherey-Nagel), according to the manufacturer's instructions. Total RNA was treated using Invitrogen™ TURBO DNA-free™ Kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Milano, Italy) to remove DNA contamination. The nucleic acid purity was analyzed by Thermo Scientific™ NanoDrop™ 2000/2000c Spectrophotometer (Thermo Fisher Scientific) and samples with 260/280 and 260/230 nm absorbance ratios greater than 1.8 nm were used for the following experiments.
