Silencing Specific Genes in Plants Using Virus-Induced Gene Silencing (VIGS) Vectors

As an efficient tool for functional genomics, VIGS (virus-induced gene silencing) has been widely used in reverse and forward genetics to identify genes involved in various biology processes in many plant species. Up to now, at least 50 VIGS vectors based on RNA viruses, DNA viruses or satellites have been developed for either dicots or monocots or both. Silencing specific genes using VIGS vector involves five major steps including, first, choosing an appropriate VIGS vector for the plant; second, selecting a fragment of targeted host gene; third, cloning the fragment into viral VIGS vector; forth, inoculating and infecting the appropriate plant; and fifth, quantifying silencing effects including recording silencing phenotypes and determining silencing efficiency of the target gene. In this chapter, we introduce these steps for VIGS assay in dicots and monocots, by taking a cucumber mosaic virus-based VIGS vector for Nicotiana benthamiana and maize plants as an example. Moreover, we list available VIGS vectors for monocots.