About the Authors

Sanaa M. M. Shanab

Affiliation Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

Emad A. Shalaby

Affiliation Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

David A. Lightfoot

Affiliation Genomics Core-Facility, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Carbondale, Illinois, United States of America

Hany A. El-Shemy

helshemy@hotmail.com

Affiliation Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

Competing Interests

Hany El-Shemy is a Section Editor on the board of PLoS ONE. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLoS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: SMMS EAS HAES. Performed the experiments: SMMS EAS. Analyzed the data: SMMS EAS DAL HAES. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SMMS EAS. Wrote the paper: SMMS EAS DAL HAES.