Highly efficacious antiviral protection of plants by small interfering RNAs identified in vitro

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Abstract

In response to a viral infection, the plant's RNA silencing machinery processes viral RNAs into a huge number of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). However, a very few of these siRNAs actually interfere with viral replication. A reliable approach to identify these immunologically effective siRNAs (esiRNAs) and to define the characteristics underlying their activity has not been available so far. Here, we develop a novel screening approach that enables a rapid functional identification of antiviral esiRNAs. Tests on the efficacy of such identified esiRNAs of a model virus achieved a virtual full protection of plants against a massive subsequent infection in transient applications. We find that the functionality of esiRNAs depends crucially on two properties: the binding affinity to Argonaute proteins and the ability to access the target RNA. The ability to rapidly identify functional esiRNAs could be of great benefit for all RNA silencing-based plant protection measures against viruses and other pathogens.

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Gago-Zachert, S., Schuck, J., Weinholdt, C., Knoblich, M., Pantaleo, V., Grosse, I., … Behrens, S. E. (2019). Highly efficacious antiviral protection of plants by small interfering RNAs identified in vitro. Nucleic Acids Research, 47(17), 9343–9357. https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkz678

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