Stanford University School of Medicine, S-143 Grant Building, 300 Pasteur Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Future Microbiol. 2011 Jan;6(1):103-17. doi: 10.2217/fmb.10.154.
Entamoeba histolytica is a major health threat to people in developing countries, where it causes invasive diarrhea and liver abscesses. The study of this important human pathogen has been hindered by a lack of tools for genetic manipulation. Recently, a number of genetic approaches based on variations of the RNAi method have been successfully developed and cloning of endogenous small-interfering RNAs from E. histolytica revealed an abundant population of small RNAs with an unusual 5´-polyphosphate structure. However, little is known about the implications of these findings to amebic biology or the mechanisms of gene silencing in this organism. In this article we review the literature relevant to RNAi in E. histolytica, discuss its implications for advances in gene silencing in this organism and outline potential future directions towards understanding the repertoire of RNAi and its impact on the biology of this deep-branching eukaryotic parasite.
溶组织内阿米巴是发展中国家人民的主要健康威胁，它会导致侵袭性腹泻和肝脓肿。由于缺乏遗传操作工具，对这种重要的人类病原体的研究受到了阻碍。最近，一些基于 RNAi 方法变体的遗传方法已经成功开发出来，并且从溶组织内阿米巴克隆内源性小干扰 RNA 揭示了具有不寻常的 5´-多磷酸盐结构的丰富小 RNA 群体。然而，对于这些发现对阿米巴生物学或该生物体中基因沉默的机制的影响知之甚少。在本文中，我们回顾了与溶组织内阿米巴中的 RNAi 相关的文献，讨论了其对该生物体中基因沉默进展的意义，并概述了理解 RNAi 及其对这种深分支真核寄生虫生物学影响的潜在未来方向。
