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Updated: Jul 10, 2026

DNA Vector-based RNA Interference to Study Gene Function in Cancer
Published on: June 4, 2012
Virus-induced gene silencing for functional analysis of selected genes
Mandar R Godge1, Arunima Purkayastha, Indranil Dasgupta
1Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore.
Abstract:
Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a technology that exploits an RNA-mediated antiviral defense mechanism and has been shown to be of great potential in plant reverse genetics. Circumvention of plant transformation, methodological simplicity, robustness, and speedy results makes VIGS an attractive alternative instrument in functional genomics, even in a high throughput fashion. The system is well established in Nicotiana benthamiana, and efforts are being made to improve VIGS in other species, including monocots. Here, we discuss the issues specific to the application of VIGS technology to determine gene function, which has revealed the roles of a variety of genes in disease resistance, abiotic stress, cellular signaling and secondary metabolite biosynthesis.
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