The relative expression data from the three years of the study were combined for analysis for all available time points and treatments. The relative expression levels were transformed by taking the natural logarithm of the relative expression levels after they had been multiplied by 1.0 ? 10 9 to allow for the absence of negative values in the data set. Log transformation was used to compensate for variation among the yearly replications of the experiment. Examination of significant interactions between fixed effects and the determination of averages and standard error of the three-way interactions of inbred line, treatment, and time point were done using a factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Proc
Mixed in SAS (SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA) for both the gene expression analyses as well as the biomass assay. Compensations in Proc Mixed were made to correct for any non-normal distributions using the Kenwarde Rogers adjustment tothe denominator degrees of freedom [40]. These analyses used modified marginal means to compensate for any missing points that would confound least square means calculations for type III fixed effects [41,42]. For aflatoxin level analysis, an ANOVA with modified marginal means in conjunctionwith Tukey's Least Standard Difference (LSD) test for post-hoc analysis was used [41]. For fungal biomass analysis, specific comparisons between treatments were performed using the Student's t-test. Significance in this study was defined by a confidence interval ?95% ( a ¼ 0.05). Results were defined as marginally significant if the analysis produced a p-value near the standard level yet exceeding it bya small degree (Approx. Range: 0.05e0.08). ANOVA tables for the type III fixed effects of the relative expression levels of the genes examined in this study can be found in Tables S2eS10.