Lifeasible offers the state-of-the-art platform for gene-specific silencing in plants by introducing virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS). VIGS is one of the most powerful reverse genetics tools for rapid determination of plant gene functions and has been now used for diverse monocot and dicot plant species.
VIGS system uses viral vectors carrying a target gene fragment to produce dsRNA which initiate RNA-mediated gene silencing. Briefly, 21-25 nt small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are produced with the help of RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RDRP) and Dicer after viral vectors being imported into host cells, followed by their incorporation into RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). The antisense strand of the siRNA guides degradation or translation suppression of target mRNA at the post-transcriptional level or induces transcriptional inhibition of target mRNA by RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) on the promoter.
VIGS has many advantages compared to other loss of- gene function approaches:
VIGS is increasingly used as an alternative to stable transformation-based RNA interference (RNAi) to silence the target genes in plants. Lifeasible has developed a number of viral-derived vectors such as tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), potato X virus (PVX), tobacco rattle virus (TRV), tomato golden mosaic virus (TGMV), African cassava mosaic virus (ACMV), barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) and plant transformation systems of tobacco, potato, petunia, cotton, pepper, barley, Arabidopsis, soybean, rice, which are readily available to accommodate the diverse needs of the clients.
VIGS service workflow:
Lifeasible has established a one-stop service platform for plants. In addition to obtaining customized solutions for plant genetic engineering, customers can also conduct follow-up analysis and research on plants through our analysis platform. The analytical services we provide include but are not limited to the following: