Role of short RNAs in gene silencing.
Recent research has revealed the existence of an elegant defence mechanism in plants and lower eukaryotes. The mechanism, known in plants as post-transcriptional gene silencing, works through sequence-specific degradation of RNA. It appears to be directed by double-stranded RNA, associated with the production of short 21-25 nt RNAs, and spread through the plant by a diffusible signal. The short RNAs are implicated as the guides for both a nuclease complex that degrades the mRNA and a methyltransferase complex that methylates the DNA of silenced genes. It has also been suggested that these short RNAs might be the mobile silencing signal, a suggestion that has been challenged recently.
Waterhouse
P M
PM
CSIRO Plant Industry, PO Box 1600, ACT 2601, Canberra, Australia. peterw@pi.csiro.au
Wang
M B
MB
Finnegan
E J
EJ
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019175:DNA Methylation; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D020868:Gene Silencing / Q000502:physiology*; D017343:Genes, Plant; D008780:Methyltransferases / Q000378:metabolism*; D010940:Plant Proteins; D010942:Plant Viruses / Q000235:genetics; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D012323:RNA Processing, Post-Transcriptional; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D018744:DNA, Plant; D010940:Plant Proteins; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded; D018749:RNA, Plant; D014764:Viral Proteins; D008780:Methyltransferases; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; C072775:HC-Pro protein, potyvirus