Sense- and antisense-mediated gene silencing in tobacco is inhibited by the same viral suppressors and is associated with accumulation of small RNAs.

ABSTRACT: Antisense-mediated gene silencing (ASGS) and posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS) with sense transgenes markedly reduce the steady-state mRNA levels of endogenous genes similar in transcribed sequence. RNase protection assays established that silencing in tobacco plants transformed with plant-defense-related class I sense and antisense chitinase (CHN) transgenes is at the posttranscriptional level. Infection of tobacco plants with cucumber mosaic virus strain FN and a necrotizing strain of potato virus Y, but not with potato virus X, effectively suppressed PTGS and ASGS of both the transgenes and homologous endogenes. This suggests that ASGS and PTGS share components associated with initiation and maintenance of the silent state. Small, ca. 25-nt RNAs (smRNA) of both polarities were a

SUBMITTER: Di Serio F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC33498 | biostudies-literature | 2001 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature