Genetic transformation in some plant species, including cotton （Gossypium hirsutum）, is hampered by laborious and time-consuming processes and often unachievable. Virus-induced gene silencing （VIGS） by double-stra...Genetic transformation in some plant species, including cotton （Gossypium hirsutum）, is hampered by laborious and time-consuming processes and often unachievable. Virus-induced gene silencing （VIGS） by double-stranded RNAs can serve as a reverse-genetics tool to determine gene function. However, knockdown levels vary greatly when using a tobacco rattle virus-based vector that carries different cDNA fragments of a gene. How to choose the optional target fragment for high interference efficiency is very challenging. Addressing this challenge requires increasing the efficacy of small interference RNA （siRNA） in target fragment. Here, we describe a method to assess VIGS efficiency by comparing the following parameters of siRNA in target sequence： the disruptionenergy of the target （△Gdisruption）, the differential stability of siRNA duplex ends （DSSE）, and the internal stability at positions 9-14 of the siRNA antisense strand （AIS）, which are calculated by Sfold program （http：//sfold.wadsworth. org）. We find that the siRNAs with low mGdisruption, high DSSE and high AIS have high activity and easily result in high VIGS efficiency by experimentally testing the actual knockdown levels of the four target genes, GhPDS, GhCLA1, GhAOS1, and GhCXE1 via choosing different target sequences for each gene. Therefore, the Sfold pro- gram can be used to analyze target sequences when car- rying out VIGS design to increase gene-silencing effects in plants.展开更多
基金supported by Major Program of Joint Funds (Sinkiang) of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. U1303282)
文摘Genetic transformation in some plant species, including cotton （Gossypium hirsutum）, is hampered by laborious and time-consuming processes and often unachievable. Virus-induced gene silencing （VIGS） by double-stranded RNAs can serve as a reverse-genetics tool to determine gene function. However, knockdown levels vary greatly when using a tobacco rattle virus-based vector that carries different cDNA fragments of a gene. How to choose the optional target fragment for high interference efficiency is very challenging. Addressing this challenge requires increasing the efficacy of small interference RNA （siRNA） in target fragment. Here, we describe a method to assess VIGS efficiency by comparing the following parameters of siRNA in target sequence： the disruptionenergy of the target （△Gdisruption）, the differential stability of siRNA duplex ends （DSSE）, and the internal stability at positions 9-14 of the siRNA antisense strand （AIS）, which are calculated by Sfold program （http：//sfold.wadsworth. org）. We find that the siRNAs with low mGdisruption, high DSSE and high AIS have high activity and easily result in high VIGS efficiency by experimentally testing the actual knockdown levels of the four target genes, GhPDS, GhCLA1, GhAOS1, and GhCXE1 via choosing different target sequences for each gene. Therefore, the Sfold pro- gram can be used to analyze target sequences when car- rying out VIGS design to increase gene-silencing effects in plants.
