Transposable element-derived siRNAs control viral disease in Arabidopsis

Abstract

Crop diseases caused by viruses can result in significant economic losses. However, the mechanisms that lead to disease are not well understood. Meanwhile, metagenomic surveys have revealed that most plants in nature are tolerant to viruses, thus maintain their fitness despite of recurrent infection. Using plants that transition from a diseased state to a tolerant state during virus infection, we demonstrate that tolerance depends on the virus-induced production of 21-nucleotide small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) from transposable elements (TEs). These findings indicate that siRNAs derived from TE sequences play a pivotal role in mitigating the detrimental effects of viral infection on plant health.