Construction of effective inverted repeat silencing constructs using sodium bisulfite treatment coupled with strand-specific PCR

RNA silencing has been exploited to produce transgenic plants with resistance to viral pathogens via posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS). In some cases, this technology is difficult to apply due to the instability of inverted repeat (IR) constructs during cloning and plant transformation. Alth...

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Main Authors: Sarah H. Taylor, Johan Harmse, Patrick Arbuthnot, Fiona Van Den Berg, Marco S. Weinberg, Marie E.C. Rey
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2012-04-01
Series:BioTechniques
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Online Access:https://www.future-science.com/doi/10.2144/0000113839
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author Sarah H. Taylor
Johan Harmse
Patrick Arbuthnot
Fiona Van Den Berg
Marco S. Weinberg
Marie E.C. Rey
author_facet Sarah H. Taylor
Johan Harmse
Patrick Arbuthnot
Fiona Van Den Berg
Marco S. Weinberg
Marie E.C. Rey
author_sort Sarah H. Taylor
collection DOAJ
description RNA silencing has been exploited to produce transgenic plants with resistance to viral pathogens via posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS). In some cases, this technology is difficult to apply due to the instability of inverted repeat (IR) constructs during cloning and plant transformation. Although such constructs have been shown to be stabilized with introns and efficiently induce RNA silencing, we found that the Pdk intron did not stabilize South African cassava mosaic virus (SACMV) silencing constructs. Therefore, we developed a method for producing long SACMV IR constructs through bisulfite-induced base pair mismatches on the sense arm prior to IR assembly. Expression of SACMV BC1 mismatched IR constructs in the model test plant Nicotiana benthamiana resulted in a reduction in viral BC1 transcript levels, hence viral replication, upon SACMV infection. Mismatched SACMV AC1 IR constructs induced PTGS more efficiently in a N. benthamiana callus system than nonmismatched IR constructs. Our novel method for IR construct generation should be applicable to many sequences where the generation of these constructs has proven difficult in the past.
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spelling doaj-art-eb47e29a47f44844836bbbeeccf2f1a22025-08-20T02:25:59ZengTaylor & Francis GroupBioTechniques0736-62051940-98182012-04-0152425426210.2144/0000113839Construction of effective inverted repeat silencing constructs using sodium bisulfite treatment coupled with strand-specific PCRSarah H. Taylor0Johan Harmse1Patrick Arbuthnot2Fiona Van Den Berg3Marco S. Weinberg4Marie E.C. Rey51Plant Biotechnology Research Group, School of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa1Plant Biotechnology Research Group, School of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa2Antiviral Gene Therapy Research Unit, Department of Molecular Medicine and Haematology, University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa2Antiviral Gene Therapy Research Unit, Department of Molecular Medicine and Haematology, University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa2Antiviral Gene Therapy Research Unit, Department of Molecular Medicine and Haematology, University of the Witwatersrand Medical School, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa1Plant Biotechnology Research Group, School of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South AfricaRNA silencing has been exploited to produce transgenic plants with resistance to viral pathogens via posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS). In some cases, this technology is difficult to apply due to the instability of inverted repeat (IR) constructs during cloning and plant transformation. Although such constructs have been shown to be stabilized with introns and efficiently induce RNA silencing, we found that the Pdk intron did not stabilize South African cassava mosaic virus (SACMV) silencing constructs. Therefore, we developed a method for producing long SACMV IR constructs through bisulfite-induced base pair mismatches on the sense arm prior to IR assembly. Expression of SACMV BC1 mismatched IR constructs in the model test plant Nicotiana benthamiana resulted in a reduction in viral BC1 transcript levels, hence viral replication, upon SACMV infection. Mismatched SACMV AC1 IR constructs induced PTGS more efficiently in a N. benthamiana callus system than nonmismatched IR constructs. Our novel method for IR construct generation should be applicable to many sequences where the generation of these constructs has proven difficult in the past.https://www.future-science.com/doi/10.2144/0000113839RNA silencinginverted repeat constructsbase pair mismatchessodium bisulfite
spellingShingle Sarah H. Taylor
Johan Harmse
Patrick Arbuthnot
Fiona Van Den Berg
Marco S. Weinberg
Marie E.C. Rey
Construction of effective inverted repeat silencing constructs using sodium bisulfite treatment coupled with strand-specific PCR
BioTechniques
RNA silencing
inverted repeat constructs
base pair mismatches
sodium bisulfite
title Construction of effective inverted repeat silencing constructs using sodium bisulfite treatment coupled with strand-specific PCR
title_full Construction of effective inverted repeat silencing constructs using sodium bisulfite treatment coupled with strand-specific PCR
title_fullStr Construction of effective inverted repeat silencing constructs using sodium bisulfite treatment coupled with strand-specific PCR
title_full_unstemmed Construction of effective inverted repeat silencing constructs using sodium bisulfite treatment coupled with strand-specific PCR
title_short Construction of effective inverted repeat silencing constructs using sodium bisulfite treatment coupled with strand-specific PCR
title_sort construction of effective inverted repeat silencing constructs using sodium bisulfite treatment coupled with strand specific pcr
topic RNA silencing
inverted repeat constructs
base pair mismatches
sodium bisulfite
url https://www.future-science.com/doi/10.2144/0000113839
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