Small RNAs in transgenic TaNAM-RNAi wheat plants

To explore the effect of stable RNAi on the small RNA (sRNA) population in wheat, we constructed a sRNA library from hexaploid wheat that expresses an RNAi construct under the 35S promoter that targets the endogenous NO APICAL MERISTEM (TaNAM) gene. The presence of this RNAi transgene causes a 40% reduction in expression of the target genes as measured by quantitative RT-PCR and significantly delays senescence and reduces remobilization of N, Fe, and Zn to the grain. Overall design: RNA was extracted from flag-leaves of transgenic NAM-RNAi plants at 12 days post-anthesis. RNA was collected from a pool of flag-leaves from four plants.