Abstract
Virus-based microRNA silencing (VbMS) is a viable and prompt method to screen and characterize the function of microRNAs (miRNAs) in plants. The Tobacco rattle virus (TRV)-based VbMS method was originally developed by the Yule Liu's group (Sha et al., 2014) using miRNA target mimic (TM) methodology. Here, we describe the TRV-based VbMS method for silencing endogenous miRNA in Nicotiana benthamiana and tomato via Agrobacterium infiltrations. For each assay, Agrobacterium cultures containing pTRV1 and specific pTRV2e derivative harboring TM fragments are mixed and infiltrated into plant tissues. Generally within 3 weeks, the target miRNAs gene will be silenced and the newly developed tissues will exhibit corresponding phenotypes.
Keywords: MicroRNA, Plant virus, MicroRNA silencing, MicroRNA target mimic, Virus-based vector
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