Christophe Béclin

TL;DR: Both sgs2 and sgs3 mutants show enhanced susceptibility to virus, definitively proving that PTGS is an antiviral defense mechanism that can also target transgene RNA for degradation.

TL;DR: It is shown that hypomorphic ago1 mutants are hypersensitive to virus infection, confirming the hypothesis that in plants PTGS is a mechanism of defense against viruses.

TL;DR: A review of transgene-induced silencing phenomena in plants and the involvement of RNA was hypothesized to explain post-transcriptional silencing in plants, fungi and nematodes.

TL;DR: Post-transcriptional gene silencing in plants is an RNA-degradation mechanism that shows similarities to RNA interference (RNAi) in animals, but whether viruses can counteract RNAi in animals and whether endogenous suppressors of RNAi exist in animals is still unknown.

TL;DR: It is shown that SGS2, SGS3, AGO1, and HEN1 contribute to produce transgene siRNA involved in sense posttranscriptional gene silencing (S-PTGS), and the actions of HEN 1 in miRNA/development and siRNA/S- PTGS can be uncoupled by single-point mutations at different positions in the protein.