- RNA silencing is an important strategy to control viral infection in plants. The following statements were made regarding RNA silencing.
A. It is driven by small interfering RNA (SiRNA) derived from double-stranded form of viral RNA.
B. siRNA requires RISC for it function.
C. Many plant viruses encode proteins that act as suppressors of RNA silencing.
D. Viral P19 protein activates RNA induced silencing complex
Which one of the following combination of statements is correct?
(1) A, B and C (2) B, C and D
(3) A, C and D (4) A, B and DThe correct combination is (1) A, B and C.
Statement D is wrong because viral P19 is a suppressor of RNA silencing, not an activator of RISC.
Checking each statement
A. “It is driven by siRNA derived from double-stranded viral RNA.” – True
Viral replication often produces double-stranded RNA, which is processed by Dicer-like enzymes into 21–24 nt siRNAs that guide antiviral RNA silencing.
These siRNAs are the core triggers of plant RNA interference against viruses.B. “siRNA requires RISC for its function.” – True
siRNAs must be loaded into the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), whose core is an Argonaute protein that uses the siRNA as a guide to recognize and cleave complementary viral RNAs.
Without RISC loading, siRNAs cannot execute silencing.C. “Many plant viruses encode proteins that act as suppressors of RNA silencing.” – True
Numerous plant viruses produce RNA silencing suppressor (RSS) proteins—for example HC-Pro, p19, p21—that interfere with different steps of the silencing pathway (dicing, RISC loading, systemic spread).
D. “Viral P19 protein activates RNA induced silencing complex.” – False
Tombusviral P19 is a well-characterized suppressor of RNA silencing: it forms dimers that bind and sequester siRNA duplexes, preventing their incorporation into RISC and thereby blocking antiviral silencing.
So P19 does the opposite of activation; it inhibits RISC assembly.
Why option (1) is correct
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Statements A, B, and C accurately describe core features of antiviral RNA silencing and viral counter-defenses.
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Statement D mischaracterizes P19, so it must be excluded.
Thus, the correct combination is A, B and C.
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