Plant growth

Arabidopsis seeds (Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0) were surface-sterilised in a solution containing 50% v/v ethanol and 6% v/v H₂O₂ for 90 s, then thoroughly washed three times with sterile distilled water. Before sowing, seeds were stratified in sterile water at 4 °C in the dark for at least 2 days. Four seeds were sown aseptically in tissue-culture vessels (Magenta GA-7, Magenta LLC., IL, USA) containing 50 mL of ½ Murashige & Skoog (MS; Duchefa, The Netherlands) agar media (1.0% w/v, pH 5.9) in sterile conditions. For gas exchange, the lids of the Magenta GA-7 tissue-culture boxes featured four 1 cm diameter holes that were covered with two layers of 3 M Micropore tape [46]. Plants were grown in a Conviron A1000 plant growth chamber at 22 °C, 80% relative humidity and short-day photoperiod (11 h day cycles, light intensity ~120–150 µE m⁻² s⁻¹).