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Updated: Feb 16, 2026

Screening and Identification of RNA Silencing Suppressors from Secreted Effectors of Plant Pathogens
Published on: February 3, 2020
Evolution of sequence-specific anti-silencing systems in Arabidopsis
Aoi Hosaka1,2, Raku Saito3,4, Kazuya Takashima3
1Department of Integrated Genetics, National Institute of Genetics, Yata 1111, Shizuoka, 411-8540, Japan. ahosaka@nig.ac.jp.
Abstract:
The arms race between parasitic sequences and their hosts is a major driving force for evolution of gene control systems. Since transposable elements (TEs) are potentially deleterious, eukaryotes silence them by epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation. Little is known about how TEs counteract silencing to propagate during evolution. Here, we report behavior of sequence-specific anti-silencing proteins used by Arabidopsis TEs and evolution of those proteins and their target sequences. We show that VANC, a TE-encoded anti-silencing protein, induces extensive DNA methylation loss throughout TEs. Related VANC proteins have evolved to hypomethylate TEs of completely different spectra. Targets for VANC proteins often form tandem repeats, which vary considerably between related TEs. We propose that evolution of VANC proteins and their targets allow propagation of TEs while causing minimal host damage. Our findings provide insight into the evolutionary dynamics of these apparently "selfish" sequences. They also provide potential tools to edit epigenomes in a sequence-specific manner.
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