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Science 1 April 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5718, p. 13
DOI: 10.1126/science.308.5718.13n
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A number of classes of proteins are involved in gene silencing mediated by small RNAs (siRNAs and miRNAs)--dicers chop double-stranded (ds)RNAs into small RNAs, argonautes are involved in target recognition (and in some cases, target RNA cleavage), and RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RDRs) can convert single-stranded RNA into dsRNA. Herr et al. (p. 118, published online 3 February 2005) add two newly discovered factors to this list in plants, which together show high homology to the family of RNA polymerases and which have accordingly been named subunits of RNA Pol IV. The two subunits, together with RDR2, are involved in the silencing of transgenes and an endogenous retroelement in the flowers of Arabidopsis, and are needed for production of both heterochromatin-associated and nonheterochromatin-associated siRNAs.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)