Establishment of virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) system in Luffa acutangula using Phytoene desaturase (PDS) and tendril synthesis related gene (TEN)

BACKGROUND: Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a reverse genetics technology that can efficiently and rapidly identify plant gene functions. Although a variety of VIGS vectors have been successfully used in plants, only a few reports on VIGS technology in Luffa exist. RESULTS: In the present study, a new cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV)-based VIGS vector, pV190, was applied to establish the CGMMV-VIGS to investigate the feasibility of the silencing system for Luffa. Phytoene desaturase (PDS) gene was initially selected as a VIGS marker gene to construct a recombinant vector. Plants infected with Agrobacterium harboring pV190-PDS successfully induced effective silencing in Luffa, and an effective gene silencing phenotype with obvious photobleaching was observed. To further validate the efficiency, we selected TEN for gene-silencing, which encodes a CYC/TB1-like transcription factor and is involved in tendril development. Luffa plants inoculated with the pV190-TEN exhibited shorter tendril length and nodal positions where tendrils appear are higher compared to those of non-inoculated plants. RT-qPCR showed that the expression levels of PDS and TEN were significantly reduced in the CGMMV-VIGS plants. Moreover, we evaluated the CGMMV-VIGS efficiency in three cucurbits, including cucumber, ridge gourd, and bottle gourd. CONCLUSION: We successfully established a CGMMV-based VIGS system on ridge gourd and used marker genes to identify the feasibility of the silencing system in Luffa leaves and stems. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13007-023-01064-4.