A viral satellite DNA vector-induced transcriptional gene silencing via DNA methylation of gene promoter in Nicotiana benthamiana

•A viral satellite DNA was integrated to a more efficient p1.7A + 2mβ vector.•The TYLCCNV:PDS vector efficiently silenced PDS gene in N. benthamiana plants.•The TYLCCNV:35S vector obviously silenced GFP gene in N. benthamiana (16c) plants.•GFP silencing induced by TYLCCNV:35S was heritable in N. benthamiana (16c) plants.•Highly methylated cytosine of 35S promoter in TYLCCNV:35S-inoculated plants (16c).

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) has been widely used for plant functional genomics study at the post-transcriptional level using various DNA or RNA viral vectors. However, while virus-induced transcriptional gene silencing (VITGS) via DNA methylation of gene promoter was achieved using several plant RNA viral vectors, it has not yet been done using a satellite DNA viral vector. In this study, a viral satellite DNA associated with tomato yellow leaf curl China virus (TYLCCNV), which has been modified as a VIGS vector in previous research, was developed as a VITGS vector. Firstly, the viral satellite DNA VIGS vector was further optimized to a more convenient p1.7A + 2mβ vector with high silencing efficiency of the phytoene desaturase (PDS) gene in Nicotiana benthamiana plants. Secondly, the constructed VITGS vector (TYLCCNV:35S), which carried a portion of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter, could successfully induce heritable transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene in the 35S-GFP transgenic N. benthamiana line 16c plants. Moreover, bisulfite sequencing results revealed higher methylated cytosine residues at CG, CHG and CHH sites of the 35S promoter sequence in TYLCCNV:35S-inoculated plants than in TYLCCNV-inoculated line 16c plants (control). Overall, these results demonstrated that the viral satellite DNA vector could be used as an effective VITGS vector to study DNA methylation in plant genomes.