The viral load reached by replicating TEV populations in A. thaliana was estimated by the dilution-inoculation assay method on the local-lesion host Chenopodium quinoa [37] . In short, 2 g of tissue was ground in 1 mL of 0.5 M phosphate buffer. Four different leafs from each one of three different 4-week-old C. quinoa plants were rub-inoculated with 5 mL of undiluted, 5-and 10-fold diluted virus, respectively; 100 mg/mL carborundum were added to facilitate inoculation. Nine dpi, the number of local lesions was recorded and transformed into viral infectious loads (LFU/mg) by estimating the intercept of the regression line of the observed number of lesions on the dilution factor.