About the Authors

Ashraf El-kereamy

Affiliations Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt

Yong-Mei Bi

Affiliation Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Kosala Ranathunge

Affiliation Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Perrin H. Beatty

Affiliation Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Allen G. Good

Affiliation Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Steven J. Rothstein

rothstei@uoguelph.ca

Affiliation Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Competing Interests

This research was partly funded by Syngenta Biotech Inc. The authors thank Shannon McDonald, from Syngenta Biotechnology Inc., (North Carolina, United States of America) for performed microarray hybridization. There are no products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: AE YB SJR. Performed the experiments: AE YB KR PHB. Analyzed the data: AE YB KR PHB AGG SJR. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: AE YB KR PHB AGG SJR. Wrote the paper: AE YB SJR.