Identification and analysis of chemicals that affect RNA silencing in plants.

• Project/Area Number: 25871119
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Plant molecular biology/Plant physiology; Chemical biology
• Research Institution: The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research
• Principal Investigator: KURIHARA Yukio 独立行政法人理化学研究所, 環境資源科学研究センター, 研究員 (60455342)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2014)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,030,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥930,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥2,340,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥540,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000)
• Keywords: ＲＮＡサイレンシング / ケミカル / 阻害 / 植物 / ケミカルスクリーニング / サイレンシング / RNAサイレンシング / 農薬

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Aim of this research is to identify novel chemicals that inhibit RNA silencing in plants. I performed chemical screening and then some experiments using molecular biological approaches. I found one special chemical as a final candidate of interest. Arabidopsis plants treated with this chemical showed increased accumulation of not only proteins and mRNAs of a target gene but also siRNAs which indicate occurrence of RNA silencing.