Research Finds Key Advances Towards Reducing the Cost of Plant Improvement
Published:18 Nov.2021 Source:Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Crop improvement often involves the transfer of genetic material from one organism to another to produce a valuable trait. Some major examples of crops with these so-called "transgenes" include disease-resistant cotton and beta-carotene-enhanced golden rice. However, when foreign DNA is introduced into a host organism, a natural defensive response in plants is to repress or silence the expression of the unfamiliar genetic material.
This "silencing," a process known to involve DNA methylation, is a multimillion-dollar problem in the global agricultural improvement industry. Research spearheaded by Keith Slotkin, PhD, member, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and associate professor, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri Columbia, has established a new understanding as to how DNA methylation begins in the first place -- in other words, how the silencing of new and foreign genetic material is triggered in plants. These findings, An siRNA-guided ARGONAUTE protein directs RNA Polymerase V to initiate DNA methylation, were recently published in the scientific journal Nature Plants.