Coccinia grandis is an interesting model system to understand dioecy in Cucurbitaceae family. Recent transcriptomics and proteomics studies carried out to understand the sex expression in C. grandis have resulted in identification of many candidate sex-biased genes. In absence of an efficient genetic transformation protocol for C. grandis, virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) would be a powerful tool to enable gene functional analysis. In current study, we explored the apple latent spherical virus (ALSV) for gene knockdown in C. grandis. The viral infection was achieved through mechanical inoculation of ALSV-infected Chenopodium quinoa leaf extract onto the cotyledons of C. grandis. ALSV-VIGS mediated knockdown of CgPDS gene was successfully achieved in C. grandis by mechanical inoculation method resulting in characteristic photobleaching. Subsequently, we developed agroinfiltration compatible vectors for direct infection of C. grandis and shortened the time-frame by skipping viral propagation in C. quinoa. Typical yellow-leaf phenotype was observed in C. grandis plants agroinfiltrated with ALSV-CgSU constructs, indicating robust silencing of CgSU gene. In addition, we improved the infection efficiency of ALSV by co-infiltration of P19 viral silencing suppressor. These results suggest that ALSV-VIGS is suitable for characterization of gene function in dioecious C. grandis and it can help us understand the mechanism of sex expression.

红瓜是一个有趣的模型系统在葫芦科了解雌雄异株。最近进行的转录组学和蛋白质组学研究旨在了解大球藻的性别表达，从而鉴定出许多候选的性别偏向基因。在不存在有效的遗传转化协议的C.巨桉，病毒诱导的基因沉默（VIGS）将是一个强有力的工具，以使基因功能分析。在当前的研究中，我们探索了苹果潜伏球形病毒（ALSV）在大隐孢子虫中的基因敲低。通过将ALSV感染的藜藜叶提取物机械接种到C. grandis的子叶上来实现病毒感染。ALSV-VIGS介导的敲低CgPDS基因在成功实现了C.巨通过导致特性的光漂白机械接种方法。随后，我们开发了可直接感染大隐孢子虫的农用浸润兼容载体，并通过跳过藜麦中的病毒繁殖缩短了时间框架。中观察到的典型的黄叶表型C.桉与ALSV-农杆菌渗入植物CgSU构建体，表示的健壮沉默CgSU基因。此外，我们通过共渗透P19病毒沉默抑制剂来提高ALSV的感染效率。这些结果表明，ALSV-VIGS适用于雌雄异株基因功能的鉴定柚，它可以帮助我们了解性表达的机制。