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. 1998 Nov 2;17(21):6385–6393. doi: 10.1093/emboj/17.21.6385

De novo methylation and co-suppression induced by a cytoplasmically replicating plant RNA virus.

A L Jones 1, C L Thomas 1, A J Maule 1
PMCID: PMC1170963  PMID: 9799246

Abstract

The relationship between co-suppression and DNA methylation was explored in transgenic plants showing inducible co-suppression following infection with a cytoplasmically replicating RNA virus. Induction resulted in a loss of transgene mRNA and resistance to further infection, factors typical of post-transcriptional gene silencing. In infected plants, de novo methylation of the transgene appeared to precede the onset of resistance and only occurred in plants where the outcome was co-suppression. The methylation was limited to sequences homologous to the viral RNA and occurred at both symmetric and non-symmetric sites on the DNA. Although methylation is predicted to occur in mitotic cells, the virus was found not to access the meristem. A diffusible sequence-specific signal may account for the epigenetic changes in those tissues.

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