Briefly, rice samples were ground in liquid nitrogen and ground further in PBS (0.01 mol L−1, pH 7.4) (1 g leaf tissues in 10 mL PBS). An individual leafhopper was placed in a 1.5 mL centrifuge tube containing 150 μL PBS (pH 7.4) or sodium bicarbonate buffer (0.05 mol L−1, pH 9.6) and mashed with a toothpick