Gene Silencing

GENE SILENCING
SUPERVISED BY: SUBMITTED BY:

PROF. SATWINDERJEET AMBIKA SALONI
KAUR 27202111722
Date-21/11/2022.
DEPARTMENT OF BOTANICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES ,GURU NANAK DEV UNIVERSITY

AMRITSAR.
GENE SILENCING
Gene Silencing is the regulation of gene expression in a cell to prevent the

expression of a certain gene.
Introduction…
Gene Silencing is a technique that aims to reduce or eliminate the
production of protein from its corresponding gene.
It generally describe the “switching off” a gene by a mechanism other
than genetic modification.
Itis similar process as Gene Knock Down but totally different from Gene
Knock Out.
When genes are knock down, there expression is reduced by at least 70%
,but when genes are knocked out ,they are completely eliminate From
the organism’s genome.
Types of Gene Silencing..
HETEROCHROMATIN TRANSCRIPTIONAL GENE POST
GENE SILENCING TRANSCRIPTIONAL
SILENCING GENE
SILENCING
• Gene Silencing by • Result in Histone • Degrades the specific mRNA

modification of Modification. and reduce the expression of
Histone and DNA. • (Paramutation and a specific gene.
Position effect) • (RNA interference and Non-
sense mediated decay)
GENE SILENCING BY MODIFICATION OF
HISTONE AND DNA
Silencing is the Position Effect; a gene is silenced because of where it is located ,not in response to a
specific environmental signal.
The most common form of silencing is associated with a dense form of chromatin called
Heterochromatin.
Heterochromatin is frequently associated with particular region of chromosome , that is “the
telomere” -structure found in end of the chromosome and “the centromere” at the center of
chromosome.
If a gene is experimentally moved into these regions , that gene is typically switched off.
Inmammalian cells 50% of the genome is estimated to be in form of heterochromatin ,However

there are essential genes located within the Heterochromatin of Drosophila genome , including
Rolled Map Kinase.
In fact , there are other region of the chromosomes that are also in a heterochromatin state , and in
which genes are found such as in silent mating type locus in yeast.
Silencing in Yeast is mediated by
Deacetylation and Methylation of histone.
The telomere , the silent mating type locus , and the rDNA genes are all “silent” region in Saccharomyces
cerevisiae
 Rap1 recruits SIR complex to the
Telomere.
 SIR2,a component of the complex ,
deacetylates nearby nucleosomes.
 The unacetylated tails themselves then
bind Sir3 and Sir4, recruiting more SIR
complex , allowing the SIR2 within it to
act on.
 This explain the spreading of silencing
effect produced by deacetylation.
Important points of Silencing in yeast .
• Silencing in Yeast is mediated by Deacetylation and Methylation of
Histone.
• The Telomere “Silent Mating Type Locus” and the rDNA genes are
“Silent” region in Yeast.
• Genes taken from other chromosomal locations and moved to this
region are often Silenced.
• The chromatin at the telomere is less acetylated than euchromatin-
where genes are more readily expressed.
TRANSCRIPTIONAL GENE SILENCING
 Position effect is the effect caused by the silencing of a gene in some cells through its abnormal
juxtaposition with heterochromatin via Rearrangement or Transposition .
 It is Described in Drosophila with respect to eye color and is known as Position Effect variegation.
Position Effect variegation caused by differential expansion of pericentromeric heterochromatin.

 POSITION EFFECT VARIEGATION
 White gene of Drosophila produce the red coloring of the

wild type eye(shown here on lower side) .
 When the gene is mutated , eyes are white.
 When the wild type gene is placed adjacent to

heterochromatin , the expression is variegated , with some
cells expressing the gene and some not . This results in the
mottled coloring shown on the upper side .
 PARAMUTATION
 Paramutation is an interaction between

two alleles of a single locus, resulting in a
heritable change of one allele that is
induced by the other allele.
 Paramutation is observed by the effect it

had on the color of corn Kernels in maize
plant
Paramutation in maize
 B-I alleles encodes an enzyme in the pathway of
Anthocyanin Pigments .
 B’ Alleles lack these pigment and are recessive to B-I
 B’ is a paramutagenic allele and only makes a small
amount of Anthocyanin pigment.
 Crosses between B’ and B-I give lightly pigmented plants
indicating that B’ is dominant to B-I
 Crosses of these heterozygotes should give ¼ pigmented
plants but only give lightly pigmented plants.
 By being in the same genotype as B’ for one generation
the B-I allele has been disabled by the B’ allele.
POST TRANSCRIPIONAL GENE SILENCING
• RNA interfering is a post transcriptional process triggered by the

introduction of dsRNA which leads to the gene silencing in a sequence
specific manner.
• Two types of small ribonucleic acid molecule (RNA molecule); microRNA

(miRNA) and small interfering RNA siRNA are central components to the
RNAi pathway.
 GENERATION OF siRNA AND miRNA
AND THEIR MODE OF ACTION.
 Processing of dsRNA to make siRNAs and pre-miRNAs to make

miRNAs by the enzyme Dicer.
 Another enzyme involved only in the generation of pre-miRNAs
Drosha .
 The siRNAs and miRNAs direct a complex called RISC (RNA-induced
silencing complex) to repress genes in three ways.
 It attacks and digests mRNA that has homology; it interferes with
translation of those mRNAs; or it directs chromatin- modifying
enzymes to the promoters that direct expression of those mRNAs.
 By recruiting an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, siRNAs can
generate more double-stranded RNA as fodder for Dicer to make more
siRNA.
 This is the "amplification" step shown on the right .
NONSENSE MEDIATED DECAY
• Nonsense mediated decay (NMD) is a cellular

mechanism of mRNA surveillance that
function to detect Nonsense Mutations and
prevent the expression erroneous proteins.
• NMD is triggered by Exon Junction Complexes
(EJCs) (components of the assembled
Ribonucleotide Proteins) that are deposited
during pre-mRNA processing.
APPLICATION OF GENE SILENCING IN
PLANTS.
 The production of virus resistance plants through genetic transformation.
 Used in food quality modification such as reduction of Caffeine levels in
coffee beans and to increase the nutritional value of corn protein and
tomato.
 Research on forest tree yield and quality is also included in the study of
gene silencing.
 Research on fruit crops has targeted application of Gene Silencing by
production of viral and bacterial resistance crop, and physiological aspects
such as self fertility.
THANK YOU

Gene Silencing

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Gene Silencing

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Gene Silencing

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

GENE SILENCING

SUPERVISED BY: SUBMITTED BY:

DEPARTMENT OF BOTANICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES ,GURU NANAK DEV UNIVERSITY

Gene Silencing is the regulation of gene expression in a cell to prevent the

• Gene Silencing by • Result in Histone • Degrades the specific mRNA

Inmammalian cells 50% of the genome is estimated to be in form of heterochromatin ,However

Position Effect variegation caused by differential expansion of pericentromeric heterochromatin.

 White gene of Drosophila produce the red coloring of the

 When the gene is mutated , eyes are white.

 When the wild type gene is placed adjacent to

 Paramutation is an interaction between

 Paramutation is observed by the effect it

• RNA interfering is a post transcriptional process triggered by the

• Two types of small ribonucleic acid molecule (RNA molecule); microRNA

 Processing of dsRNA to make siRNAs and pre-miRNAs to make

• Nonsense mediated decay (NMD) is a cellular

You might also like