Effectively organ-specific virus induced gene silencing in tomato plant

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a valuable tool for identification and characterization of genes function. To improve the efficiency of VIGS in different organ, we developed an organ-specific VIGS that could be applied to tomato (Solanum lycopersicum cv Micro Tom) leaves, flowers and fruits respectively. With phytoene desaturase (PDS) as a reporter gene, almost up to 100% of efficiency of VIGS was achieved in tomato leaves, flowers and fruits. The suppression of PDS gene in these organs was also up to 90% compared with control tomato plants. In addition, a few sucrose in infiltration buffer is important for VIGS in flowers and fruits, which could help the Agrobacterium culture attached to organ longer and largely increase the time of infection. In short, organ-specific VIGS would shed light on rapid characterization of key genes function in whole tomato growth and reproductive development. Journal of Nature and Science, 1(1):e34, 2015.