Fig. 2

08SG2 regulates grain length by changing cell division patterns. a The spikelet hulls of R498 and 08sg2 plants before anthesis. Scale bar, 3 mm. b, c Inner epidermal cells of the lemma observed by SEM. Scale bar, 100 μm. d, e Outer epidermal cells of the lemma observed by SEM. Scale bar, 100 μm. f Comparison of spikelet hull length between R498 and 08sg2 (n = 10). g, h Comparison analysis of the cell length, cell number in the inner epidermal cells (n = 30). i, j Comparison analysis of the cell length, cell number in the outer epidermal cells (n = 30). k Transcript levels of the cell cycle-related genes in R498 and 08sg2. The analysis of relative expression levels was determined by qRT-PCR using 5–7 cm young panicles. OsActin was used as the control and the values of expression levels in R498 were set to one (n = 3). f-k, Data are given as means ± SD. Student’s t-test was used to generate the P values; ** indicate P < 0.01