Open AccessEfficient Virus-Induced Gene Silencing in Solanum rostratum
Author(s) -
Lanhuan Meng,
Ruiheng Wang,
Beiwei Zhu,
Hongliang Zhu,
Yunbo Luo,
Daqi Fu
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0156228
Subject(s) - tobacco rattle virus , biology , phytoene desaturase , gene , weed , solanum nigrum , gene silencing , botany , genetics
Solanum rostratum is a “super weed” that grows fast, is widespread, and produces the toxin solanine, which is harmful to both humans and other animals. To our knowledge, no study has focused on its molecular biology owing to the lack of available transgenic methods and sequence information for S . rostratum . Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a powerful tool for the study of gene function in plants; therefore, in the present study, we aimed to establish tobacco rattle virus (TRV)-derived VIGS in S . rostratum . The genes for phytoene desaturase ( PDS ) and Chlorophyll H subunit ( ChlH ) of magnesium protoporphyrin chelatase were cloned from S . rostratum and used as reporters of gene silencing. It was shown that high-efficiency VIGS can be achieved in the leaves, flowers, and fruit of S . rostratum . Moreover, based on our comparison of three different types of infection methods, true leaf infection was found to be more efficient than cotyledon and sprout infiltration in long-term VIGS in multiple plant organs. In conclusion, the VIGS technology and tomato genomic sequences can be used in the future to study gene function in S . rostratum .