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Updated: Dec 18, 2025

Virus-induced Gene Silencing VIGS in Nicotiana benthamiana and Tomato
Published on: June 10, 2009
Virus-Induced Gene Silencing (VIGS) in Chili Pepper (Capsicum spp.)
Magda Lisette Arce-Rodríguez1, Neftalí Ochoa-Alejo2
1Departamento de Ingeniería Genética, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Unidad Irapuato, Gto., Mexico.
Abstract:
Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a transcript suppression technique that enables the functional characterization of genes in recalcitrant transformation plants. This technique consists in cloning a short fragment of a gene of interest into a viral vector, such as TRV (Tobacco rattle virus), and this viral construction is used to agro-infiltrate the plant. VIGS induces posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS) that results in the specific sequence degradation of target RNAs. Here we describe a VIGS protocol using the Gateway-based TRV vector for the study of genes in chili pepper plants.
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