Circularized RNA reverse transcription PCR (CR‐RT‐PCR)

Following the T4 RNA Ligase I (New England Biolabs) guide, five µg of total RNA from rice leaves at 30 DAS were circularized. First‐strand cDNA was synthesized using Prime Script II RTase (TaKaRa) with specific primers (Table S2). The resulting cDNAs were amplified using primers specific to each target gene (Table S2). Each circular RT‐PCR fragment was cloned into the pCloneEZ‐Blunt TOPO Cloning Kit (Clone Smarter) with ten monoclonals for each target gene sequence.