Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is an important tool for studying gene function. However, a number of factors highly restrict the application of VIGS, such as unstable efficiency and tissue-specific silencing. We developed a novel evaluation method for improving the applicability of VIGS vectors. In this method, 4 indexes were defined and utilized to evaluate VIGS efficiency by silencing th...

RNA silencing is an innate antiviral mechanism conserved in organisms across kingdoms. Such a cellular defense involves DICER or DICER-LIKEs (DCLs) that process plant virus RNAs into viral small interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs). Plants encode four DCLs that play diverse roles in cell-autonomous intracellular virus-induced RNA silencing (known as VIGS) against viral invasion. VIGS can spread between c...

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a technology that exploits an antiviral defense mechanism in plants as a tool for plant reverse genetics. VIGS circumvents the need for plant transformation, is methodologically simple and yields rapid results. Various VIGS vectors have been developed and have helped to unravel the functions of genes involved in processes such as disease resistance, abioti...

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a powerful reverse genetics tool wherein the expression of a targeted gene is reduced by a viral vector in a sequence homology-dependent manner. A VIGS system using a modified Barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) has been developed and successfully employed in the functional characterization of genes in monocots. There are several inherent limitations to the ...

Barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) is a single-stranded RNA virus with three genome components designated alpha, beta, and gamma. BSMV vectors have previously been shown to be efficient virus induced gene silencing (VIGS) vehicles in barley and wheat and have provided important information about host genes functioning during pathogenesis as well as various aspects of genes functioning in develop...

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a technology that exploits an RNA-mediated antiviral defense mechanism. In plants infected with unmodified viruses the mechanism is specifically targeted against the viral genome. However, with virus vectors carrying inserts derived from host genes the process can be additionally targeted against the corresponding mRNAs. VIGS has been used widely in plants...

The nongreen plastids, such as etioplasts, chromoplasts, etc., as well as chloroplasts, are all derived from proplastids in the meristem. To date, the Min system members in plants have been identified as regulators of FtsZ-ring placement, which are essential for the symmetrical division of chloroplasts. However, the regulation of FtsZ-ring placement in nongreen plastids is poorly understood. In...

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a very useful research tool for rapid creation of gene knockdown phenotypes that can be used to assess plant gene function (Kumagai et al., 1995; Ratcliff et al., 1997; Baulcombe, 1999). VIGS exploits the fact that infection by many RNA viruses activates a conserved, RNAbased plant antiviral defense response, which targets the RNA produced by infecting vir...

The abiotic stress-responsive cDNA database and their expression profiles suggest that stress genes are many and diverse. However, characterization and validation of their functional significance has been a constraint to assessing their role in imparting tolerance. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a potential option for assessing the functional significance of stress genes. Here the effec...

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a powerful technique to study gene function in plants. However, very few VIGS vectors are available for monocot plants. Here we report that Foxtail mosaic virus (FoMV) can be engineered as an effective VIGS system to induce efficient silencing of endogenous genes in monocot plants including barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum) and foxtail...