Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
Cell. 2013 Jan 31;152(3):406-16. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.01.005.
Ciliates are an ancient and diverse group of microbial eukaryotes that have emerged as powerful models for RNA-mediated epigenetic inheritance. They possess extensive sets of both tiny and long noncoding RNAs that, together with a suite of proteins that includes transposases, orchestrate a broad cascade of genome rearrangements during somatic nuclear development. This Review emphasizes three important themes: the remarkable role of RNA in shaping genome structure, recent discoveries that unify many deeply diverged ciliate genetic systems, and a surprising evolutionary "sign change" in the role of small RNAs between major species groups.
纤毛虫是一类古老而多样的微生物真核生物,已成为 RNA 介导的表观遗传遗传的有力模型。它们拥有广泛的微小和长非编码 RNA 集,以及包括转座酶在内的一整套蛋白质,共同调控体细胞核发育过程中广泛的基因组重排级联反应。这篇综述强调了三个重要主题:RNA 在塑造基因组结构方面的显著作用、最近发现的许多深度分化的纤毛虫遗传系统的统一性,以及主要物种群体之间小 RNA 作用的惊人进化“符号变化”。