Posttranscriptional silencing of reporter transgenes in tobacco correlates with DNA methylation.

Endogenous plant genes or transgenes can be silenced on introduction of homologous gene sequences. Here we document a reporter gene-silencing event in Nicotiana tabacum that has a distinctive combination of features--i.e., (i) silencing occurs by a posttranscriptional process, (ii) silencing correlates with DNA methylation, and (iii) this de novo methylation is not restricted to cytosines located in the symmetrical motifs CG and CXG.