Figure 6. Comparison of sucrose and starch metabolism in developing anthers exposed to drought stress. (A) Expression analysis of genes involved in sucrose and starch metabolism, and sugar transport based on RNA-Seq data. (B) Sucrose, glucose, and fructose contents in anthers of DS plants. Anthers of equivalent developmental stages were sampled from WW and DS plants 4 d after drought stress. Values are mean ± SD (n = 3 replications, 24 plants each). *p <0.05; **p <0.01; ***p < 0.001 (t-test). (C) Starch accumulation in tomato anthers determined by staining with Iodine Potassium Iodide (IKI) solution. WW , anthers from well-watered plants;DS , anthers from drought-stressed plants; MEI , anthers at meiotic stage; TED , anthers at tetrad stage; EUM , anthers at early uninucleate microspore stage; VUM , anthers at vacuolated uninucleate microspore stage; BIN , anthers binucleate stage; MP , anthers at mature pollen stage.