Abstract
Gene silencing was perceived initially as an unpredictable and inconvenient side effect of introducing transgenes into plants. It now seems that it is the consequence of accidentally triggering the plant's adaptive defence mechanism against viruses and transposable elements. This recently discovered mechanism, although mechanistically different, has a number of parallels with the immune system of mammals.
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Acknowledgements
We thank M.-A. Grandbastion, R. Hull and our colleagues at P.I. for being so generous with their time and knowledge. Thanks also to V. Vance for access to her manuscript before publication.
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Waterhouse, P., Wang, MB. & Lough, T. Gene silencing as an adaptive defence against viruses. Nature 411, 834–842 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35081168
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35081168
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