The post-transcriptional gene silencing pathway in Eucalyptus

Abstract

Post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) is a conserved surveillance mechanism that identifies and cleaves double-stranded RNA molecules and their cellular cognate transcripts. The RNA silencing response is actually used as a powerful technique (named RNA interference) for potent and specific inhibition of gene expression in several organisms. To identify gene products in Eucalyptus sharing similarities with enzymes involved in the PTGS pathway, we queried the expressed sequence tag database of the Brazilian Eucalyptus Genome Sequence Project Consortium (FORESTs) with the amino acid sequences of known PTGS-related proteins. Among twenty-six prospected genes, our search detected fifteen assembled sequences encoding products presenting high level of similarity (E value < 10 -40 ) to proteins involved in PTGS in plants and other organisms. We conclude that most of the genes known to be involved in the PTGS pathway are represented in the FORESTs database.

Gene silencing: concepts, applications, and perspectives in woody plants

“…(Moller et al, 2005;Tang et al, 2005a;2005b;Wagner et al, 2005;Tang et al, 2006), Juglans regia L. (Escobar et al, 2002), Coffea canephora (Ogita et al, 2003), Eucalyptus sp. (Valério et al, 2003;Sassaki et al, 2005), Caryca papaya (Tennant et al, 2001), and Actinidia deliciosa (A.Chev.) C.F.…”

Genetic machinery for RNA silencing and defense against viruses in Citrus

“…Some aspects of PTGS have, nevertheless, been investigated in a few woody species, such as Eucalyptus (Sassaki et al, 2005), plum (Scorza et al, 2001;Hily et al, 2005) and Citrus (Domínguez et al, 2002;Lu et al, 2004;Fagoaga et al, 2006). The CTV coat protein gene p25 was shown to be silenced under non-selective conditions in a transgenic Mexican lime (Citrus aurantifolia) (Domínguez et al, 2002), indicating that the silencing surveillance system is active in this species.…”