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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Virus-induced Gene Silencing (VIGS) in Nicotiana benthamiana and Tomato
Published on: June 10, 2009
Two chloroplastic viroids induce the accumulation of small RNAs associated with posttranscriptional gene silencing
A E Martínez de Alba1, R Flores, C Hernández
1Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas (UPV-CSIC), Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Ave. de los Naranjos s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain.
Abstract:
In plants, posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS) has been reported for cytoplasmic RNAs from endogenous nuclear genes, transgenes, viruses, and, recently, for a viroid with nuclear replication and accumulation. However, phenomena of this kind have not been described for mitochondrial or chloroplastic RNAs. Here we show that viroids that replicate and accumulate in the chloroplast are also targets of PTGS and this process may control viroid titer.
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