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. 2024 Jan 17;13(2):272. doi: 10.3390/plants13020272

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Molecular mechanism of virus-induced gene silencing viral vectors injected into cotton through an agrobacterium carrying the targeted gene. The target gene is fused into the VIGS vector and transformed into Agrobacterium. The strains enter the cotton leaf through injection. After infection, T-DNA containing the viral genome is transcribed by the cotton RNA polymerase. With the help of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) (yellow), the single-stranded RNA (ssRNA) viral transcripts produce double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). The dsRNAs are further cleaved into small (21–24 nt) short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) by a dicer (green). Then, amplified siRNAs, together with the AGO protein, form an RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). RISC uses these siRNAs to accurately establish homologous RNAs in cells, which triggers the endo-nucleolytic cleavage and translational inhibition of the cognate target mRNA, thereby producing PTGS. The single-stranded siRNAs are amplified and propagated as a mobile silencing signal throughout the plant, leading to target gene silencing in plant organs far from the infected site.