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A genetic link between co-suppression and RNA interference in C. elegans

Nature volume 404, pages 296–298 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

Originally discovered in plants1,2, the phenomenon of co-suppression by transgenic DNA has since been observed in many organisms from fungi3 to animals4,5,6,7: introduction of transgenic copies of a gene results in reduced expression of the transgene as well as the endogenous gene. The effect depends on sequence identity between transgene and endogenous gene. Some cases of co-suppression resemble RNA interference (the experimental silencing of genes by the introduction of double-stranded RNA)8, as RNA seems to be both an important initiator and a target in these processes9,10,11,12,13. Here we show that co-suppression in Caenorhabditis elegans is also probably mediated by RNA molecules. Both RNA interference14,15 and co-suppression16 have been implicated in the silencing of transposons. We now report that mutants of C. elegans that are defective in transposon silencing and RNA interference (mut-2, mut-7, mut-8 and mut-9) are in addition resistant to co-suppression. This indicates that RNA interference and co-suppression in C. elegans may be mediated at least in part by the same molecular machinery, possibly through RNA-guided degradation of messenger RNA molecules.

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Figure 1: Co-suppression of mrt-2.

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Acknowledgements

We thank F. Simmer, S. Ahmed and J. Hodgkin for sharing unpublished results and providing materials; T. Schedl and A. Spence for providing materials; and P. Borst, H. van Luenen and S. Fischer for critical reading of the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. René F. Ketting & Ronald H. A. Plasterk

    Present address: Hubrecht Laboratory, Centre for Biomedical Genetics, Uppsalalaan 8, 3584 CT, Utrect, The Netherlands

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Molecular Biology, The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Centre for Biomedical Genetics, Plesmanlaan 121, CX Amsterdam, 1066, The Netherlands

    René F. Ketting & Ronald H. A. Plasterk

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Correspondence to Ronald H. A. Plasterk.

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Ketting, R., Plasterk, R. A genetic link between co-suppression and RNA interference in C. elegans. Nature 404, 296–298 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35005113

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