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Originally published in Science Express on 3 February 2005
Science 1 April 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5718, pp. 118 - 120
DOI: 10.1126/science.1106910
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Reports

RNA Polymerase IV Directs Silencing of Endogenous DNA

A. J. Herr,1 M. B. Jensen,1 T. Dalmay,2 D. C. Baulcombe1*

Plants encode subunits for a fourth RNA polymerase (Pol IV) in addition to the well-known DNA-dependent RNA polymerases I, II, and III. By mutation of the two largest subunits (NRPD1a and NRPD2), we show that Pol IV silences certain transposons and repetitive DNA in a short interfering RNA pathway involving RNA-dependent RNA polymerase 2 and Dicer-like 3. The existence of this distinct silencing polymerase may explain the paradoxical involvement of an RNA silencing pathway in maintenance of transcriptional silencing.

1 Sainsbury Laboratory, John Innes Centre, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK.
2 University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: david.baulcombe{at}sainsbury-laboratory.ac.uk

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