MIGS: miRNA-induced gene silencing.
Gene silencing is an important tool in the study of gene function. Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) and hairpin RNA interference (hpRNAi), both of which rely on small interfering RNAs, together with artificial microRNAs (amiRNA), are amongst the most popular methods for reduction of gene activity in plants. However, all three approaches have limitations. Here, we introduce miRNA-induced gene silencing (MIGS). This method exploits a special 22-nucleotide miRNA of Arabidopsis thaliana, miR173, which can trigger production of another class of small RNAs called trans-acting small interfering RNAs (tasiRNAs). We show that fusion of gene fragments to an upstream miR173 target site is sufficient for effective silencing of the corresponding endogenous gene. MIGS can be reliably used for the knockdown of a single gene or of multiple unrelated genes. In addition, we show that MIGS can be applied to other species by co-expression of miR173.
Department of Molecular Biology, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
Felipe Fenselau de
FF
Felippes
Jia-wei
JW
Wang
Detlef
D
Weigel
D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics*; D035264:Flowers / Q000235:genetics; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D050939:Gene Fusion; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D020868:Gene Silencing; D023281:Genomics; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics*; D009154:Mutation; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D034622:RNA Interference; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics*; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000235:genetics; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000235:genetics
C534587:MIRN173 microRNA, Arabidopsis; D035683:MicroRNAs; D018749:RNA, Plant; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering