A single dicer gene is required for efficient gene silencing associated with two classes of small antisense RNAs in Mucor circinelloides.

ABSTRACT: RNA silencing in the zygomycete Mucor circinelloides exhibits uncommon features, such as induction by self-replicative sense transgenes and the accumulation of two size classes of antisense small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). To investigate whether this silencing phenomenon follows the rules of a canonical RNA-silencing mechanism, we used hairpin RNA (hpRNA)-producing constructs as silencing triggers and analyzed the efficiency and stability of silencing in different genetic backgrounds. We show here that the dsRNA-induced silencing mechanism is also associated with the accumulation of two sizes of antisense siRNAs and that this mechanism is not mediated by the previously known dcl-1 (dicer-like) gene, which implies the existence of an additional dicer gene. An M. circinelloides dcl-2 gene wa

SUBMITTER: de Haro JP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2756861 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature