Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (Nov 2001)

Potato spindle tuber viroid as Inducer of RNA Silencing in Infected Tomato

  • Asuka Itaya,
  • Alexey Folimonov,
  • Yoshie Matsuda,
  • Richard S. Nelson,
  • Biao Ding

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1094/mpmi.2001.14.11.1332
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 11
pp. 1332 – 1334

Abstract

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Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd), an RNA plant pathogen encoding no known proteins, induces systemic symptoms on tomato plants. We report detection of small RNAs of approximately 25 nucleotides with sequence specificity to PSTVd in infected plants: an indication of the presence of RNA silencing. RNA silencing, however, did not appear to be responsible for the differing symptoms induced by a mild and a severe strain of PSTVd. The unique structural and biological features of viroids make them attractive experimental tools to investigate mechanisms of RNA silencing and pathogen counterdefense.

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