Molecular Plant Pathology (2018) 19, 2446-2458

Charith Raj Adkar-Purushothama, Teruo Sano and Jean-Pierre Perreault (2018)
Viroid-derived small RNA induces early flowering in tomato plants by RNA silencing
Molecular Plant Pathology 19 (11), 2446-2458
Abstract: Viroid infection often leads to early flowering in the host plant. This report describes the targeting of the FRIGIDA-like protein 3 (FRL3) mRNA in tomato plants by a small RNA derived from the conserved left terminal region of the potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd). This targeting leads to the silencing of the FRL3 mRNA. Viroid infection assays using a severe variant of PSTVd induced early flowering in tomato plants by the down-regulation of greater amounts of the target than did a mild PSTVd variant. The targeting of the FRL3 mRNA by RNA silencing was validated by both an artificial microRNA experiment transiently expressing viroid-derived small RNAs in tomato plants, and by 5' RNA ligase-mediated rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE). These data unambiguously demonstrated the role of small RNAs in the early flowering seen in viroid-infected plants.
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Database assignments for author(s): Teruo Sano

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
molecular biology - genes

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Potato spindle tuber viroid	Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)