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Updated: Oct 15, 2025
Screening and Identification of RNA Silencing Suppressors from Secreted Effectors of Plant Pathogens
Published on: February 3, 2020
Characterization of small interfering RNAs derived from pepper mild mottle virus in infected pepper plants by
Yubing Jiao1, Xiuxiang Zhao2, Kaiqiang Hao2
1Liaoning Key Laboratory of Plant Pathology, College of Plant Protection, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang 110866, China; Key Laboratory of Tobacco Pest Monitoring Controlling & Integrated Management, Tobacco Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China.
Abstract:
Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) infects pepper plants and induces severe yield losses in China. However, the molecular interaction between PMMoV and pepper plants is largely unknown. RNA silencing is a eukaryotically conserved mechanism against viruses mediated by virus-derived small interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs) in plants. In this study, the profiles of vsiRNAs from PMMoV in infected pepper plants were obtained by high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that vsiRNAs were predominantly 21 and 22 nucleotides (nts) in length, and had a U bias at the 5'-terminal. The single-nucleotide resolution maps revealed that vsiRNAs were heterogeneously distributed throughout PMMoV genomic RNAs and hotspots of sense and antisense strands were mainly located in the RdRp and CP coding regions. The host transcripts targeted by vsiRNAs were predicted and they are mainly involved in physiological pathways related to stress response, cell regulation, and metabolism process. In addition, PMMoV infection induced significant up-regulation of CaAGO1a/1b/2, CaDCL2 and CaRDR1 gene transcripts in pepper plants, which are important components involved in antiviral RNA silencing pathway. Taken together, our results suggest the possible roles of vsiRNAs in PMMoV-pepper interactions.
