Tobacco rattle virus -induced gene silencing in Hevea brasiliensis

Abstract

BackgroundSince it is very difficult to obtain gene knockouts in rubber tree (Hevea Brasiliensis) due to low genetic transformation efficiency. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a powerful gene silencing tool that has been intensively applied in plant. Up to now, the application of VIGS in rubber tree has not yet been reported.ResultsHevea brasiliensis phytoene desaturase (HbPDS) was identified in H. brasiliensis genome. The prediction of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) from HbPDS and the silencing gene fragment (SGF) were predicted and a length of 409 bp SGF was chosen to be tested. We show that the tobacco rattle virus (TRV) -VIGS is able to induce effective HbPDS silencing in rubber tree. The TRV-VIGS system has the potential for functional gene studies in rubber tree.ConclusionsThis is the first time to report VIGS in rubber tree. The present TRV-VIGS method could be further applied to produce gene silenced rubber tree plants, to advance functional gene of rubber tree. The applied TRV-VIGS method will achieve deeper underground into the natural rubber biosynthesis and regulation in this important rubber-producing plant.

Complete Genome Sequence of a Novel Latent Tobamovirus Infecting Hevea Brasiliensis in China

“…Very recently, tobacco rattle virus (TRV) was reported to induce VIGS in rubber tree [7], which provides a mean to analyze the functions of candidate genes identi ed in rubber tree. However, rubber tree is not the natural host of TRV, whether serious side effects could be caused by TRV infection still requires further investigation.…”