Work

MIGS: miRNA‐induced gene silencing

Year: 2011

Type: article

Abstract: Gene silencing is an important tool in the study of gene function. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) and hairpin RNA interference (hpRNAi), both of which rely on small interfering RNAs, together with artificial microRNAs (amiRNA), are amongst the most popular methods for reduction of gene activity in plants. However, all three approaches have limitations. Here, we introduce miRNA-induced gene silencing (MIGS). This method exploits a special 22-nucleotide miRNA of Arabidopsis thaliana, miR173, which can trigger production of another class of small RNAs called trans-acting small interfering RNAs (tasiRNAs). We show that fusion of gene fragments to an upstream miR173 target site is sufficient for effective silencing of the corresponding endogenous gene. MIGS can be reliably used for the knockdown of a single gene or of multiple unrelated genes. In addition, we show that MIGS can be applied to other species by co-expression of miR173.

Source: The Plant Journal

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-313x.2011.04896.x

Authors: Felipe Fenselau de Felippes, Jia‐wei Wang, Detlef Weigel

Institutions: ETH Zurich, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences

Language: English

Topic: Plant Molecular Biology Research

Subfield: Plant Science

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Zero hunger

Open Access status: bronze