Short Silencing RNA: The Dark Matter of Genetics?
Open Access
- 1 January 2006
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology
- Vol. 71, 13-20
- https://doi.org/10.1101/sqb.2006.71.052
Abstract
Plants and animals have single-stranded silencing RNAs (sRNAs) of 21–25 nucleotides in length that are derived from a double-stranded (ds)RNA precursor by Dicer (DCL) processing. These RNAs are the guide RNA for nucleases of the AGO classthat cleave targeted RNA in a nucleotide sequence-specific manner. The cleaved RNAs are then degraded further or they arethe template for an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RDR) that generates a dsRNA. In this paper, I discuss the possibilitythat this RDR-generated dsRNA initiates a cascade in which there are multiple rounds of secondary sRNA production. I proposethat these secondary sRNAs feature in mechanisms that can either buffer mRNA populations against change or, in certaincircumstances, mediate extensive changes in mRNA populations. The RNA cascades may also have RNA-mediatedepigenetic characteristics in addition to the DNA and chromatin transcriptional silencing potential that has been previouslylinked with RNA silencing.Keywords
This publication has 61 references indexed in Scilit:
- A Two-Hit Trigger for siRNA Biogenesis in PlantsCell, 2006
- DICER-LIKE 4 is required for RNA interference and produces the 21-nucleotide small interfering RNA component of the plant cell-to-cell silencing signalNature Genetics, 2005
- Arabidopsis ARGONAUTE1 is an RNA Slicer that selectively recruits microRNAs and short interfering RNAsProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2005
- RNA-directed transcriptional gene silencing in mammalsTrends in Genetics, 2005
- RNA silencing in plantsNature, 2004
- Modulation of floral development by a gibberellin-regulated microRNADevelopment, 2004
- RNase III enzymes and the initiation of gene silencingNature Structural & Molecular Biology, 2004
- Mathematical models of RNA silencing: Unidirectional amplification limits accidental self-directed reactionsProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2003
- Role for a bidentate ribonuclease in the initiation step of RNA interferenceNature, 2001
- Symptom Production on Tobacco and Tomato Is Determined by Two Distinct Domains of the Satellite RNA of Cucumber Mosaic Virus (Strain Y)Journal of General Virology, 1989