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Ming-bo Wang - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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RNA Silencing in plants mechanisms technologies and applications in horticultural crops
Current Genomics, 2016Co-Authors: Neil A. Smith, Guolu Liang, Ming-bo WangAbstract:: Understanding the fundamental nature of a molecular process or a biological pathway is often a catalyst for the development of new technologies in biology. Indeed, studies from late 1990s to early 2000s have uncovered multiple overlapping but functionally distinct RNA Silencing pathways in plants, including the posttranscriptional microRNA and small interfering RNA pathways and the transcriptional RNA-directed DNA methylation pathway. These findings have in turn been exploited for developing artificial RNA Silencing technologies such as hairpin RNA, artificial microRNA, intrinsic direct repeat, 3' UTR inverted repeat, artificial trans-acting siRNA, and virus-induced gene Silencing technologies. Some of these RNA Silencing technologies, such as the hairpin RNA technology, have already been widely used for genetic improvement of crop plants in agriculture. For horticultural plants, RNA Silencing technologies have been used to increase disease and pest resistance, alter plant architecture and flowering time, improve commercial traits of fruits and flowers, enhance nutritional values, remove toxic compounds and allergens, and develop high-value industrial products. In this article we aim to provide an overview of the RNA Silencing pathways in plants, summarize the existing RNA Silencing technologies, and review the current progress in applying these technologies for the improvement of agricultural crops particularly horticultural crops.
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RNA Silencing and antiviral defense in plants.
Methods in molecular biology (Clifton N.J.), 2012Co-Authors: Claire Agius, Andrew L. Eamens, Anthony A. Millar, John M. Watson, Ming-bo WangAbstract:Given the widespread impact of RNA Silencing on the Arabidopsis thaliana genome, it is indeed remarkable that this means of gene regulation went undiscovered for so long. Since the publication of landmark papers in 1998 (Fire et al., Nature 391:806-811, 1998; Waterhouse et al., Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 95:13959-13964, 1998), intense research efforts have resulted in much progress from the speculation of Mello and colleagues that "the mechanisms underlying RNA interference probably exist for a biological purpose" (Fire et al., Nature 391:806-811, 1998). Across the eukaryotic kingdom, with the notable exception of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Moazed, Science 326:544-550, 2009), the importance of small RNA-driven gene regulation has been recognized and implicated in central developmental processes as well as in aberrant and diseased states. Plants have by far the most complex RNA-based control of gene expression (Wang et al., Floriculture, oRNAmental and plant biotechnology, vol. III, 2006). Four distinct RNA Silencing pathways have been recognized in plants, albeit with considerable conservation of the molecular components. These pathways are directed by various small RNA species, including microRNAs (miRNAs), trans-acting small interfering RNAs (siRNA) (ta-siRNAs), repeat-associated siRNAs (ra-siRNAs), and natural antisense transcript siRNAs (nat-siRNAs). The effective functionality of each of these pathways appear to be fundamental to the integrity of A. thaliana. Furthermore, in response to viral invasion, plants synthesize viral sRNAs as a means of defense. This process may in fact reflect the ancient origins of RNA Silencing: plants may have evolved RNA Silencing pathways as a defense mechanism against foreign nucleic acid species in the absence of an immune system (Wang and Metzlaff, Curr Opin Plant Biol 8:216-222, 2005). The generation of viral siRNAs is a particularly interesting illustration of RNA Silencing as it provides a context to explore the potential to harness a naturally occurring system to the end goal of artificially engineering viral resistance.
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RNA Silencing and plant viral diseases.
Molecular plant-microbe interactions : MPMI, 2012Co-Authors: Ming-bo Wang, Chikara Masuta, Neil A. Smith, Hanako ShimuraAbstract:RNA Silencing plays a critical role in plant resistance against viruses, with multiple Silencing factors participating in antiviral defense. Both RNA and DNA viruses are targeted by the small RNA-directed RNA degradation pathway, with DNA viruses being also targeted by RNA-directed DNA methylation. To evade RNA Silencing, plant viruses have evolved a variety of counter-defense mechanisms such as expressing RNA-Silencing suppressors or adopting Silencing-resistant RNA structures. This constant defense-counter defense arms race is likely to have played a major role in defining viral host specificity and in shaping viral and possibly host genomes. Recent studies have provided evidence that RNA Silencing also plays a direct role in viral disease induction in plants, with viral RNA-Silencing suppressors and viral siRNAs as potentially the dominant players in viral pathogenicity. However, questions remain as to whether RNA Silencing is the principal mediator of viral pathogenicity or if other RNA-Silencing-independent mechanisms also account for viral disease induction. RNA Silencing has been exploited as a powerful tool for engineering virus resistance in plants as well as in animals. Further understanding of the role of RNA Silencing in plant-virus interactions and viral symptom induction is likely to result in novel anti-viral strategies in both plants and animals.
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RNA Silencing in fungi
Frontiers in Biology, 2010Co-Authors: Ulrike Schumann, Mick Ayliffe, Kemal Kazan, Ming-bo WangAbstract:RNA Silencing is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism in eukaryotic organisms induced by double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) and plays an essential role in regulating gene expression and maintaining genome stability. RNA Silencing occurs at both posttranscriptional levels through sequence-specific RNA degradation or translational repression and at transcriptional levels through RNA-directed DNA methylation and/or heterochromatin formation. RNA Silencing pathways have been relatively well characterized in plants and animals, and are now also being widely investigated in diverse fungi, some of which are important plant pathogens. This review focuses primarily on the current understanding of the dsRNA-mediated posttranscriptional gene Silencing processes in fungi, but also discusses briefly the known gene Silencing pathways that appear to be independent of the RNA Silencing machineries. We review RNA Silencing studies for a variety of fungi and highlight some of the mechanistic differences observed in different fungal organisms. As RNA Silencing is being exploited as a technology in gene function studies in fungi as well as in engineering anti-fungal resistance in plants and animals, we also discuss the recent progress towards understanding dsRNA uptake in fungi.
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RNA Silencing in Plants: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Plant physiology, 2008Co-Authors: Andrew L. Eamens, Ming-bo Wang, Neil A. Smith, Peter M. WaterhouseAbstract:RNA Silencing has become a major focus of molecular biology and biomedical research around the world. This is highlighted by a simple PubMed search for “RNA Silencing,” which retrieves almost 9,000 articles. Interest in gene Silencing-related mechanisms stemmed from the early 1990s, when this
Hanako Shimura - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Satellite RNAs: Their Involvement in Pathogenesis and RNA Silencing
Viroids and Satellites, 2017Co-Authors: Chikara Masuta, Hanako ShimuraAbstract:Abstract “Satellites” are subviral agents that lack functional peptides necessary for replication and thus depend on a helper virus for replication. A substantial portion of the nucleotide sequences of satellite genomes is distinct from those of their helper viruses. Here we focus on the relationship between the pathogenesis of satellites and host RNA Silencing to understand the roles of satellites in modulating disease symptoms. Although each satellite may have its own unique mechanism for pathogenesis, host RNA Silencing including epigenetics is possibly involved.
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RNA Silencing and plant viral diseases.
Molecular plant-microbe interactions : MPMI, 2012Co-Authors: Ming-bo Wang, Chikara Masuta, Neil A. Smith, Hanako ShimuraAbstract:RNA Silencing plays a critical role in plant resistance against viruses, with multiple Silencing factors participating in antiviral defense. Both RNA and DNA viruses are targeted by the small RNA-directed RNA degradation pathway, with DNA viruses being also targeted by RNA-directed DNA methylation. To evade RNA Silencing, plant viruses have evolved a variety of counter-defense mechanisms such as expressing RNA-Silencing suppressors or adopting Silencing-resistant RNA structures. This constant defense-counter defense arms race is likely to have played a major role in defining viral host specificity and in shaping viral and possibly host genomes. Recent studies have provided evidence that RNA Silencing also plays a direct role in viral disease induction in plants, with viral RNA-Silencing suppressors and viral siRNAs as potentially the dominant players in viral pathogenicity. However, questions remain as to whether RNA Silencing is the principal mediator of viral pathogenicity or if other RNA-Silencing-independent mechanisms also account for viral disease induction. RNA Silencing has been exploited as a powerful tool for engineering virus resistance in plants as well as in animals. Further understanding of the role of RNA Silencing in plant-virus interactions and viral symptom induction is likely to result in novel anti-viral strategies in both plants and animals.
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RNA Silencing and viral disease induction in plants
Uirusu, 2012Co-Authors: Hanako Shimura, Chikara MasutaAbstract:RNA Silencing plays an important role in plant resistance against viruses. As a counter-defense against RNA Silencing, plant viruses have evolved RNA Silencing suppressors (RSSs). RNA Silencing is likely to play a major role in disease development. For example, RSSs have been found to disturb the gene expression controlled by miRNAs in plant tissue and organ development, resulting in plant malformation. Mosaic symptoms, which are typical in virus-infected plants, are actually a consequence of local arms race between host RNA Silencing and viral RSSs. In addition, recent studies revealed that viral siRNAs could induce RNA Silencing even against a certain host gene and thus a disease symptom through a complementary (homologous) sequence coincidentally found between virus and host gene. RNA Silencing is the principal mediator of viral pathogenicity and disease induction and therefore should be exploited as a powerful tool for engineering virus resistance in plants as well as in animals.
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Functional analyses of viral RNA Silencing suppressors and a strategy to screen antiviral compounds that target viral RNA Silencing suppressors
Journal of General Plant Pathology, 2011Co-Authors: Hanako ShimuraAbstract:RNA Silencing is triggered by double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs), and the dsRNAs are processed into 21to 24-nulceotide (nt) short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) by a host dsRNA-specific ribonuclease, Dicer. The siRNAs are subsequently incorporated into ARGONAUTE (AGO) proteins and serve as a guide for either sequence-specific cleavage or translational repression of a target RNA. Because viral dsRNAs originating from either replicative intermediates or hairpin structures on viral genomes can become inducers of RNA Silencing, the RNA Silencing machinery in plants is considered to be a natural antiviral defense mechanism. In contrast, plant viruses have evolved a counter defense strategy, producing RNA Silencing suppressors (RSSs) that interfere with the RNA Silencing pathway. Among RSSs of plant viruses, HC-Pro of potyviruses, 2b of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and P19 of tombusviruses have been extensively studied. These RSSs are structurally diverse, but many use a common strategy to interfere with the RNA Silencing pathway by binding to siRNAs. In this study, we first developed a protoplastbased system for RNA Silencing to measure RSS activity more stringently than with the commonly used Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression system. Using the protoplast assay, we performed various functional analyses of the 2b protein (2b) of Cucumovirus. In addition, we established a strategy for screening and assessing chemical compounds that inhibit the interaction of viral RSS and siRNAs, leading to attenuation of viral disease symptoms.
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Viral induction and suppression of RNA Silencing in plants.
Biochimica et biophysica acta, 2011Co-Authors: Hanako Shimura, Vitantonio PantaleoAbstract:RNA Silencing in plants and insects can function as a defence mechanism against invading viruses. RNA Silencing-based antiviral defence entails the production of virus-derived small interfering RNAs which guide specific antiviral effector complexes to inactivate viral genomes. As a response to this defence system, viruses have evolved viral suppressors of RNA Silencing (VSRs) to overcome the host defence. VSRs can act on various steps of the different Silencing pathways. Viral infection can have a profound impact on the host endogenous RNA Silencing regulatory pathways; alterations of endogenous short RNA expression profile and gene expression are often associated with viral infections and their symptoms. Here we discuss our current understanding of the main steps of RNA-Silencing responses to viral invasion in plants and the effects of VSRs on endogenous pathways. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: MicroRNAs in viral gene regulation.
Olivier Voinnet - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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RNA Silencing suppression by plant pathogens: defence, counter-defence and counter-counter-defence
Nature Reviews Microbiology, 2013Co-Authors: Nathan Pumplin, Olivier VoinnetAbstract:In plants, RNA Silencing targets viral RNA for degradation, and viruses have evolved mechanisms to avoid Silencing, most notably by expressing Silencing suppressors. The recent identification of Silencing suppressors in plant pathogenic bacteria and oomycetes suggests that RNA Silencing functions in plant defence against a broad range of pathogens, not just viruses. There is also increasing evidence that plants have evolved counter-counter-defence responses to pathogen-mediated RNA-Silencing suppression.
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The diversity of RNA Silencing pathways in plants.
Trends in genetics : TIG, 2006Co-Authors: Peter Brodersen, Olivier VoinnetAbstract:RNA Silencing was discovered in plants as a mechanism whereby invading nucleic acids, such as transgenes and viruses, are silenced through the action of small (20-26 nt) homologous RNA molecules. Our understanding of small RNA biology has significantly improved in recent years, and it is now clear that there are several cellular Silencing pathways in addition to those involved in defense. Endogenous Silencing pathways have important roles in gene regulation at the transcriptional, RNA stability and translational levels. They share a common core of small RNA generator and effector proteins with multiple paralogs in plant genomes, some of which have acquired highly specialized functions. Here, we review recent developments in the plant RNA Silencing field that have identified components of specific Silencing pathways and have shed light on the mechanisms and biological roles of RNA Silencing in plants.
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Non-cell autonomous RNA Silencing
FEBS letters, 2005Co-Authors: Olivier VoinnetAbstract:In plants and in some animals, the effects of post-transcriptional RNA Silencing can extend beyond its sites of initiation, owing to the movement of signal molecules. Although the mechanisms and channels involved are different, plant and animal Silencing signals must have RNA components that account for the nucleotide sequence-specificity of their effects. Studies carried out in plants and Caenorhabditis elegans have revealed that non-cell autonomous Silencing is operated through specialized, remarkably sophisticated pathways and serves important biological functions, including antiviral immunity and, perhaps, developmental patterning. Recent intriguing observations suggest that systemic RNA Silencing pathways may also exist in higher vertebrates.
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Induction and suppression of RNA Silencing: insights from viral infections
Nature Reviews Genetics, 2005Co-Authors: Olivier VoinnetAbstract:In plants and insects, virus-induced gene Silencing (VIGS) is a mechanism whereby double-stranded features of viral genomes are recognized and processed by Dicer-like enzymes to generate antiviral small RNA molecules. The diversification and specialization of Silencing components that are observed in both types of organisms might have arisen primarily as an adaptation to optimal recognition and processing of various double-stranded forms of pathogenic RNA molecules. No single RNA-Silencing component has been broadly implicated in antiviral defence in plants so far. This probably reflects the functional redundancy and/or combinatorial interactions between individual members of large protein families that account for the remarkable diversity and complexity of plant RNA-Silencing pathways. DNA viruses might be restricted by RNA Silencing that acts at the transcriptional level. This occurs through small RNA pathways that direct chromatin modifications that are involved in epigenetic control of transposable elements and endogenous loci. The miRNA pathway might also restrict accumulation of viruses that produce nuclear transcripts that are folded in a way that mimics the structure of endogenous miRNA precursors. These are normally processed in the nucleus by Dicer-like enzymes to ensure regulatory functions in the cell. This phenomenon has been documented in human cells that are infected by the Epstein–Barr virus, transcripts of which are processed into at least five distinct miRNA molecules. In plants, nematodes and fungi, but not in Drosophila melanogaster or humans, primary VIGS reactions might be amplified through the activities of host-encoded RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RdRPs). Amplification is also involved in the systemic spread of Silencing, providing a form of genetic immune system that ensures clearance of viral and sub-viral pathogens. Plant and insect viruses have developed a range of counter-defensive measures against RNA Silencing, one of which is the production of highly diverse suppressor proteins that inhibit distinct steps of the Silencing pathway. Strategies for Silencing suppression are varied and include the direct inhibition of Silencing-effector molecules, recruitment of endogenous pathways that negatively control RNA Silencing and modification of the host transcriptome. Viral suppression of RNA Silencing often — although not always — has adverse effects on host biology, and forms the basis of some of the developmental and cytopathic symptoms that are associated with virus infections in plants, and probably other organisms. This is, at least partly, an incidental consequence of the primary suppression of VIGS at an intermediate step that is shared with the miRNA pathway. Viruses can also evade RNA Silencing through a range of means that include sub-cellular compartmentalization and loss of Silencing-target sequences due to high mutation rates. They might also deliberately hijack their host Silencing pathways to establish optimal infection conditions. It remains unclear whether RNA Silencing naturally limits viral infections in vertebrates as it does in plants and insects. Potent dsRNA-triggered defence pathways, such as the vertebrate interferon response, might mask or supplant the putative RNA-Silencing response that is elicited by viruses in those organisms. It is possible that cellular microRNA molecules, rather than virus-derived siRNA molecules, might contribute to antiviral defence in vertebrates. This might be indirect, for example, by controlling the accumulation of basic compatibility factors, or direct, owing to the sequence complementarity of miRNA molecules to parasitic nucleic acids. In eukaryotes, small RNA molecules engage in sequence-specific interactions to inhibit gene expression by RNA Silencing. This process fulfils fundamental regulatory roles, as well as antiviral functions, through the activities of microRNAs and small interfering RNAs. As a counter-defence mechanism, viruses have evolved various anti-Silencing strategies that are being progressively unravelled. These studies have not only highlighted our basic understanding of host–parasite interactions, but also provide key insights into the diversity, regulation and evolution of RNA-Silencing pathways.
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RNA Silencing: no mercy for viruses?
Immunological reviews, 2004Co-Authors: Charles-henri Lecellier, Olivier VoinnetAbstract:'RNA Silencing' is a highly conserved mechanism leading to suppression of gene expression through nucleotide sequence-specific interactions that are mediated by 21-24 nucleotide-long RNAs. This process was first discovered as an unexpected consequence of transgenesis in plants, and similarly, it was subsequently identified in animals as an anomaly of antisense gene inhibition. We summarize the progressive steps that paved the way to our current understanding of the molecular basis and fundamental biological roles of RNA Silencing in both plants and animals. In particular, we describe the general antiviral function of this mechanism in higher plants where it forms the basis of a highly elaborate immune system. All defense systems show some level of fallibility, and RNA Silencing is no exception to this rule, as plant viruses have developed sophisticated ways to counteract various steps of the process. Recent work indicates that viruses are also engaged into a similar arms race in insects, but it remains unclear if RNA Silencing plays a defensive role against virus infection of higher vertebrates. We also discuss some biotechnological applications of RNA Silencing in mammalian cells that have fueled optimism that this mechanism may hold a promising future in antiviral human therapy.
Neil A. Smith - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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RNA Silencing in plants mechanisms technologies and applications in horticultural crops
Current Genomics, 2016Co-Authors: Neil A. Smith, Guolu Liang, Ming-bo WangAbstract:: Understanding the fundamental nature of a molecular process or a biological pathway is often a catalyst for the development of new technologies in biology. Indeed, studies from late 1990s to early 2000s have uncovered multiple overlapping but functionally distinct RNA Silencing pathways in plants, including the posttranscriptional microRNA and small interfering RNA pathways and the transcriptional RNA-directed DNA methylation pathway. These findings have in turn been exploited for developing artificial RNA Silencing technologies such as hairpin RNA, artificial microRNA, intrinsic direct repeat, 3' UTR inverted repeat, artificial trans-acting siRNA, and virus-induced gene Silencing technologies. Some of these RNA Silencing technologies, such as the hairpin RNA technology, have already been widely used for genetic improvement of crop plants in agriculture. For horticultural plants, RNA Silencing technologies have been used to increase disease and pest resistance, alter plant architecture and flowering time, improve commercial traits of fruits and flowers, enhance nutritional values, remove toxic compounds and allergens, and develop high-value industrial products. In this article we aim to provide an overview of the RNA Silencing pathways in plants, summarize the existing RNA Silencing technologies, and review the current progress in applying these technologies for the improvement of agricultural crops particularly horticultural crops.
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RNA Silencing and plant viral diseases.
Molecular plant-microbe interactions : MPMI, 2012Co-Authors: Ming-bo Wang, Chikara Masuta, Neil A. Smith, Hanako ShimuraAbstract:RNA Silencing plays a critical role in plant resistance against viruses, with multiple Silencing factors participating in antiviral defense. Both RNA and DNA viruses are targeted by the small RNA-directed RNA degradation pathway, with DNA viruses being also targeted by RNA-directed DNA methylation. To evade RNA Silencing, plant viruses have evolved a variety of counter-defense mechanisms such as expressing RNA-Silencing suppressors or adopting Silencing-resistant RNA structures. This constant defense-counter defense arms race is likely to have played a major role in defining viral host specificity and in shaping viral and possibly host genomes. Recent studies have provided evidence that RNA Silencing also plays a direct role in viral disease induction in plants, with viral RNA-Silencing suppressors and viral siRNAs as potentially the dominant players in viral pathogenicity. However, questions remain as to whether RNA Silencing is the principal mediator of viral pathogenicity or if other RNA-Silencing-independent mechanisms also account for viral disease induction. RNA Silencing has been exploited as a powerful tool for engineering virus resistance in plants as well as in animals. Further understanding of the role of RNA Silencing in plant-virus interactions and viral symptom induction is likely to result in novel anti-viral strategies in both plants and animals.
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RNA Silencing in Plants: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Plant physiology, 2008Co-Authors: Andrew L. Eamens, Ming-bo Wang, Neil A. Smith, Peter M. WaterhouseAbstract:RNA Silencing has become a major focus of molecular biology and biomedical research around the world. This is highlighted by a simple PubMed search for “RNA Silencing,” which retrieves almost 9,000 articles. Interest in gene Silencing-related mechanisms stemmed from the early 1990s, when this
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RNA Silencing in plants: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow
Science & Engineering Faculty, 2008Co-Authors: Andrew L. Eamens, Ming-bo Wang, Neil A. Smith, Peter M. WaterhouseAbstract:RNA Silencing has become a major focus of molecular biology and biomedical research around the world. This is highlighted by a simple PubMed search for “RNA Silencing,” which retrieves almost 9,000 articles. Interest in gene Silencing-related mechanisms stemmed from the early 1990s, when this phenomenon was first noted as a surprise observation by plant scientists during the course of plant transformation experiments, in which the introduction of a transgene into the genome led to the Silencing of both the transgene and homologous endogenes. From these initial studies, plant biologists have continued to generate a wealth of information into not only gene Silencing mechanisms but also the complexity of these biological pathways as well as revealing their multilevel interactions with one another. The plant biology community has also made significant advancements in exploiting RNA Silencing as a powerful tool for gene function studies and crop improvements. In this article, we (1) review the rich history of gene Silencing research and the knowledge it has generated into our understanding of this fundamental mechanism of gene regulation in plants; (2) describe examples of the current applications of RNA Silencing in crop plants; and (3) discuss improvements in RNA Silencing technology and its potential application in plant science.
Peter M. Waterhouse - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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RNA Silencing in Plants
Plant Developmental Biology - Biotechnological Perspectives, 2010Co-Authors: Andrew L. Eamens, Shaun J. Curtin, Peter M. WaterhouseAbstract:RNA Silencing-related mechanisms have been documented in almost all living organisms and RNA Silencing is now used as board term to describe the vast array of related processes involving RNA–RNA, RNA–DNA, RNA–protein or protein–protein interactions that ultimately result in the repression of gene expression. In plants, the parallel RNA Silencing pathways have evolved to extraordinary levels of complexity and diversity, playing crucial roles in providing protection against invading nucleic acids derived from viruses or replicating transposons, controlling chromatin modifications as well as regulating endogenous gene expression to ensure normal plant growth and development. The aims of this chapter are (1) to provide an overview of the initial curious observations of RNA Silencing-related phenomena in plants, (2) to outline the parallel gene Silencing pathways of plants, and (3) to discuss current applications of RNA Silencing technologies to not only study but also modify plant development.
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RNA Silencing in Plants: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Plant physiology, 2008Co-Authors: Andrew L. Eamens, Ming-bo Wang, Neil A. Smith, Peter M. WaterhouseAbstract:RNA Silencing has become a major focus of molecular biology and biomedical research around the world. This is highlighted by a simple PubMed search for “RNA Silencing,” which retrieves almost 9,000 articles. Interest in gene Silencing-related mechanisms stemmed from the early 1990s, when this
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RNA Silencing in plants: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow
Science & Engineering Faculty, 2008Co-Authors: Andrew L. Eamens, Ming-bo Wang, Neil A. Smith, Peter M. WaterhouseAbstract:RNA Silencing has become a major focus of molecular biology and biomedical research around the world. This is highlighted by a simple PubMed search for “RNA Silencing,” which retrieves almost 9,000 articles. Interest in gene Silencing-related mechanisms stemmed from the early 1990s, when this phenomenon was first noted as a surprise observation by plant scientists during the course of plant transformation experiments, in which the introduction of a transgene into the genome led to the Silencing of both the transgene and homologous endogenes. From these initial studies, plant biologists have continued to generate a wealth of information into not only gene Silencing mechanisms but also the complexity of these biological pathways as well as revealing their multilevel interactions with one another. The plant biology community has also made significant advancements in exploiting RNA Silencing as a powerful tool for gene function studies and crop improvements. In this article, we (1) review the rich history of gene Silencing research and the knowledge it has generated into our understanding of this fundamental mechanism of gene regulation in plants; (2) describe examples of the current applications of RNA Silencing in crop plants; and (3) discuss improvements in RNA Silencing technology and its potential application in plant science.
