title: Biogenesis, Function, and Applications of Virus-Derived Small RNAs in Plants.
abstract: RNA silencing, an evolutionarily conserved and sequence-specific gene-inactivation system, has a pivotal role in antiviral defense in most eukaryotic organisms. In plants, a class of exogenous small RNAs (sRNAs) originating from the infecting virus called virus-derived small interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs) are predominantly responsible for RNA silencing-mediated antiviral immunity. Nowadays, the process of vsiRNA formation and the role of vsiRNAs in plant viral defense have been revealed through deep sequencing of sRNAs and diverse genetic analysis. The biogenesis of vsiRNAs is analogous to that of endogenous sRNAs, which require diverse essential components including dicer-like (DCL), argonaute (AGO), and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RDR) proteins. vsiRNAs trigger antiviral defense through post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) or transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) of viral RNA, and they hijack the host RNA silencing system to target complementary host transcripts. Additionally, several applications that take advantage of the current knowledge of vsiRNAs research are being used, such as breeding antiviral plants through genetic engineering technology, reconstructing of viral genomes, and surveying viral ecology and populations. Here, we will provide an overview of vsiRNA pathways, with a primary focus on the advances in vsiRNA biogenesis and function, and discuss their potential applications as well as the future challenges in vsiRNAs research.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Virology of Fujian Province, Institute of Plant Virology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University Fuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Virology of Fujian Province, Institute of Plant Virology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University Fuzhou, China.
authors.forename: Zujian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Peking-Yale Joint Center for Plant Molecular Genetics and Agrobiotechnology, The National Laboratory of Protein Engineering and Plant Genetic Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Peking University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Plant Virology of Fujian Province, Institute of Plant Virology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University Fuzhou, China ; Peking-Yale Joint Center for Plant Molecular Genetics and Agrobiotechnology, The National Laboratory of Protein Engineering and Plant Genetic Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Peking University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Jianguo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
keywords: AGOs; DCLs; RDRs; RNA silencing; plant antiviral defense; small RNAs; virus-derived small RNAs