Artificial microRNAs and synthetic trans-acting small interfering RNAs interfere with viroid infection.

ABSTRACT: Artificial microRNAs (amiRNAs) and synthetic trans-acting small interfering RNAs (syn-tasiRNAs) are two classes of artificial small RNAs (sRNAs) engineered to silence endogenous transcripts as well as viral RNAs in plants. Here, we explore the possibility of using amiRNAs and syn-tasiRNAs to specifically interfere with infections by viroids, small (250-400-nucleotide) non-coding circular RNAs with compact secondary structure infecting a wide range of plant species. The combined use of recent high-throughput methods for artificial sRNA construct generation and the Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd)-Nicotiana benthamiana pathosystem allowed for the simple and time-effective screening of multiple artificial sRNAs targeting sites distributed along PSTVd RNAs of (+) or (-) polarity. The majori

SUBMITTER: Carbonell A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6638287 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature