AGO1 and infection: In our previous study we identified hop miRNAs that respond to infection with V. nonalfalfae at 1 dpi (under review; https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-114355/v1; accessed on 16 April 2021) and we did not detect changes in the expression of hlu-miR162 or hlu-miR168, which may explain why we did not observe changes in the expression of DCL1 or AGO1. The results of our study suggest that in hops the initial stages of the Verticillium wilt pathogenesis do not induce changes in the regulation of gene expression that would stop the processes of growth and development.