Feminizing endosymbiont disrupts maternal sex chromosome inheritance in a butterfly species.

is a maternally inherited ubiquitous endosymbiotic bacterium of arthropods that displays a diverse repertoire of host reproductive manipulations. For the first time, we demonstrate that manipulates sex chromosome inheritance in a sexually reproducing insect. butterfly females on Tanegashima Island, Japan, are infected with the Fem strain and produce all-female offspring, while antibiotic treatment results in male offspring.

[Virus-induced gene silencing as a tool for analysis of gene functions in plants].

Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a technology that exploits an RNA-mediated antivirus defense mechanism in plants and has been shown to have great potential in plant reverse genetics. When the virus vector carries sequences of plant genes, virus infection triggers VIGS that results in the degradation of endogenous mRNAs homologous to the plant genes. The system is well established in Nicotiana benthamiana and several reliable VIGS vectors have been developed for other plant species including important agricultural crops.