title: Post-transcriptional gene silencing in plants.
abstract: Overexpression of chimeric transgenes in plants can trigger post-transcriptional gene silencing that is dependent on epigenetic information and physiological conditions. The current view is that unproductive RNA serves as a crucial signal for gene silencing, although direct evidence is lacking for this theory. A signalling cascade then leads to strongly enhanced turnover of all RNAs that share a critical degree of sequence similarity. The molecular details of the mechanism are, however, insufficiently understood to explain the phenomenon completely and to comprehend its biological significance.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorium voor Genetica, Department of Genetics, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Universiteit Gent, KL Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000, Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Depicker
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Montagu
mesh_terms: D044503:5-Methylcytosine; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000502:physiology; D003596:Cytosine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics*; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D012323:RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019076:Transgenes / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018749:RNA, Plant; D044503:5-Methylcytosine; D003596:Cytosine