Virus-induced silencing of FtsH gene in Nicotiana benthmiana causes a striking bleached leaf phenotype.

A recombinant Potato virus X (PVX) vector, pTXS.FtsH, harboring partial sequence of FtsH gene of Nicotiana benthamiana was constructed to silence the expression of endogenous FtsH homologous gene in N. benthamiana. Inoculation with in vitro runoff transcript of pTXS.FtsH to N. benthamiana plants allowed silencing of FtsH, causing striking bleaching of upper leaves reminiscent of var2 mutant phenotype of Arabidopsis thaliana. FtsH-silenced plants exhibited no resistance against Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and a phytopathogenic fungus Botrytis cinerea. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) of N. benthamiana with PVX as demonstrated here would be an efficient and rapid method to study the function of other elements of photosystem II (PSII) in planta.