AGO1, QDE-2, and RDE-1 are related proteins required for post-transcriptional gene silencing in plants, quelling in fungi, and RNA interference in animals

Mathilde Fagard, Stéphanie Boutet, Jean-Benoit Morel, Catherine Bellini, Hervé Vaucheret

doi:10.1073/pnas.200217597

<jats:p> Introduction of transgene DNA may lead to specific degradation of RNAs that are homologous to the transgene transcribed sequence through phenomena named post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) in plants, quelling in fungi, and RNA interference (RNAi) in animals. It was shown previously that PTGS, quelling, and RNAi require a set of related proteins (SGS2, QDE-1, and EGO-1, respectively). Here we report the isolation of <jats:italic>Arabidopsis</jats:italic> mutants impaired in PTGS which are affected at the <jats:italic>Argonaute1</jats:italic> ( <jats:italic>AGO1</jats:italic> ) locus. AGO1 is similar to QDE-2 required for quelling and RDE-1 required for RNAi. Sequencing of <jats:italic>ago1</jats:italic> mutants revealed one amino acid essential for PTGS that is also present in QDE-2 and RDE-1 in a highly conserved motif. Taken together, these results confirm the hypothesis that these processes derive from a common ancestral mechanism that controls expression of invading nucleic acid molecules at the post-transcriptional level. As opposed to <jats:italic>rde-1</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>qde-2</jats:italic> mutants, which are viable, <jats:italic>ago1</jats:italic> mutants display several developmental abnormalities, including sterility. These results raise the possibility that PTGS, or at least some of its elements, could participate in the regulation of gene expression during development in plants. </jats:p>

AGO1, QDE-2, and RDE-1 are related proteins required for post-transcriptional gene silencing in plants, quelling in fungi, and RNA interference in animals

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