Benedito Vagner A, Visser Peter B, Angenent Gerco C, Krens Frans A
Plant Research International, Wageningen University and Research Centre, P.O. Box 16, 6700 AA, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
Genet Mol Res. 2004 Sep 30;3(3):323-41.
Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) has been shown to be of great potential in plant reverse genetics. Advantages of VIGS over other approaches, such as T-DNA or transposon tagging, include the circumvention of plant transformation, methodological simplicity and robustness, and speedy results. These features make VIGS an attractive alternative instrument in functional genomics, even in a high throughput fashion. The system is already well established in Nicotiana benthamiana; however, efforts are being made to improve VIGS in other species, including monocots. Current research is focussed on unravelling the mechanisms of post-transcriptional gene silencing and VIGS, as well as on finding novel viral vectors in order to broaden the host species spectrum. We examined how VIGS has been used to assess gene functions in plants, including molecular mechanisms involved in the process, available methodological elements, such as vectors and inoculation procedures, and we looked for examples in which the system has been applied successfully to characterize gene function in plants.
病毒诱导的基因沉默（VIGS）已被证明在植物反向遗传学中具有巨大潜力。与其他方法（如T-DNA或转座子标签法）相比，VIGS的优势包括无需进行植物转化、方法简单且稳健，以及结果快速。这些特性使VIGS成为功能基因组学中一种有吸引力的替代工具，甚至可以实现高通量操作。该系统在本氏烟草中已经很成熟；然而，人们正在努力改进其他物种（包括单子叶植物）中的VIGS。当前的研究集中在揭示转录后基因沉默和VIGS的机制，以及寻找新型病毒载体以拓宽宿主物种范围。我们研究了VIGS如何被用于评估植物中的基因功能，包括该过程涉及的分子机制、可用的方法要素（如载体和接种程序），并寻找了该系统已成功应用于鉴定植物基因功能的实例。
