Kavi Harsh H, Fernandez Harvey R, Xie Weiwu, Birchler James A
Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, 117 Tucker Hall, Columbia, MO 65211, USA.
FEBS Lett. 2005 Oct 31;579(26):5940-9. doi: 10.1016/j.febslet.2005.08.069. Epub 2005 Sep 20.
Knowledge of the role of RNA in affecting gene expression has expanded in the past several years. Small RNAs serve as homology guides to target messenger RNAs for destruction at the post-transcriptional level in the experimental technique known as RNA interference and in the silencing of some transgenes. These small RNAs are also involved in sequence-specific targeting of chromatin modifications for transcriptional silencing of transgenes, transposable elements, heterochromatin and some cases of Polycomb-mediated gene silencing. RNA silencing processes in Drosophila are described.
在过去几年中，人们对RNA在影响基因表达方面作用的认识有所扩展。在被称为RNA干扰的实验技术以及一些转基因沉默过程中，小RNA作为同源性引导物，在转录后水平靶向信使RNA以进行破坏。这些小RNA还参与染色质修饰的序列特异性靶向，从而导致转基因、转座元件、异染色质的转录沉默以及某些情况下多梳蛋白介导的基因沉默。本文描述了果蝇中的RNA沉默过程。
