Xie Zhao-Hui
Department of Biology, Dezhou University, Dezhou 253023, China.
Yi Chuan. 2010 Jun;32(6):561-70. doi: 10.3724/sp.j.1005.2010.00561.
RNA silencing is a common strategy shared by eukaryotic organisms to regulate gene expression, and also can operate as a defense mechanism against biotic stress. In plants, small RNAs play an important role in defensing against viruses, bacteria or herbivore attack, such as miRNAs and siRNAs. As a response to this defense system, both viruses and bacteria have evolved viral suppressors of RNA silencing (VSRs) or bacterial suppressors of RNA silencing (BSRs) to overcome the host silencing response, which can act at various steps of the different silencing pathways. This review highlights the current understanding and the new insights concerning of the roles of small RNAs in defensing against biotic stress and the mechanism of VSRs and BSRs in suppressing host RNA silencing in plants.
RNA沉默是真核生物用来调控基因表达的一种常见策略，同时也可作为抵御生物胁迫的防御机制。在植物中，小RNA在抵御病毒、细菌或食草动物攻击方面发挥着重要作用，如微小RNA（miRNAs）和小干扰RNA（siRNAs）。作为对这种防御系统的一种应对，病毒和细菌都进化出了RNA沉默病毒抑制子（VSRs）或RNA沉默细菌抑制子（BSRs）来克服宿主的沉默反应，这些抑制子可在不同沉默途径的各个步骤发挥作用。本综述着重介绍了目前对小RNA在抵御生物胁迫中的作用以及VSRs和BSRs在抑制植物宿主RNA沉默机制方面的理解和新见解。
