20.500.12556/RUL-175865 Evolutionarily new solanaceous DCL2 family members acquire functions in tomato RNA silencing is one of the major defence activities against viral pathogens in plants. Silencing signals are initiated by Dicer-likeproteins (DCLs) to generate viral-derived small RNAs (sRNAs). Viral sRNAs are then loaded into Argonaute proteins to forman RNA-induced silencing complex to guide cleavage of target RNAs based on sequence homology. While the model regardingRNA silencing-mediated defence against viral pathogens is largely established based on extensive studies using the model plantArabidopsis thaliana, there are diverse sets of silencing components in other plants, especially in domesticated crops. Here, wetracked the expansion of solanaceous-specific DCL2 genes during the course of evolution. We found that the DCL2a gene intomato chromosome 6 is likely an evolutionarily new gene copy. We also found that DCL2b is more prone to be induced by viralpathogens in tomato plants, which is dependent on the combinations of cultivar and viral pathogen. Both DCL2a and DCL2b arecritical to suppress the accumulation titre of a subviral agent, potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd). We noticed an unusually highaccumulation of viral sRNAs shorter than 20 nt (16- to 19-nt in length) in viroid-infected tomato cv. Heinz 1706. Using syntheticsmall interfering RNAs, we demonstrated that shorter size sRNAs may also play a role in suppressing target RNAs, which can beinterfered with by a viral suppressor of silencing, P19. Altogether, we provided further insights into the expansion of functionalDCL2 family members in the Solanaceae family and their roles in combating viral and subviral agents. dicer-like 2 (DCL2) plant virus tomato viroid paradižnik rastlinski virusi viroidi utišanje genov true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Članek v reviji 2025-11-11 13:54:34 2025-11-11 13:54:40 2025-12-15 04:10:17 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 8 str. Iss. 1 Vol. 26 2025 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 577.2 1464-6722 10.1111/mpp.70173 256744195 Evolutionarily_New_Solanaceous_DCL2_Family_Members_Acquire_Functions_in_Tomato.pdf Evolutionarily_New_Solanaceous_DCL2_Family_Members_Acquire_Functions_in_Tomato.pdf 1 C0339270038C26546E7E01CC02F5EC64 51ae268b6ab19e6a8faaa8ed6bc2c3dffd93bb2eb86b6ebf640e3c9a3f49efc9 73b3d7db-befd-11f0-9328-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=221783 https://bsppjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/mpp.70173 1 42aba3d4-befd-11f0-9328-0050569b8976 https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=221781 Biotehniška fakulteta 0 0 0