title: RNA interference in designing transgenic crops.
abstract: RNA interference (RNAi) is a sequence specific gene silencing mechanism, triggered by the introduction of dsRNA leading to mRNA degradation. It helps in switching on and off the targeted gene, which might have significant impact in developmental biology. Discovery of RNAi represents one of the most promising and rapidly advancing frontiers in plant functional genomics and in crop improvement by plant metabolic engineering and also plays an important role in reduction of allergenicity by silencing specific plant allergens. In plants the RNAi technology has been employed successfully in improvement of several plant species- by increasing their nutritional value, overall quality and by conferring resistance against pathogens and diseases. The review gives an insight to the perspective use of the technology in designing crops with innovation, to bring improvement to crop productivity and quality.
authors.affiliation: Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Laboratory, Department of Botany, University of Calcutta, India.
authors.forename: Nusrat
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Swapan K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Datta
authors.forename: Karabi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Datta
mesh_terms: D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012275:Oryza / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D034622:RNA Interference; D003313:Zea mays / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins