Yang Shengming, Tang Fang, Zhu Hongyan
Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40546, USA.
Int J Mol Sci. 2014 Jun 10;15(6):10424-45. doi: 10.3390/ijms150610424.
Alternative splicing (AS) occurs widely in plants and can provide the main source of transcriptome and proteome diversity in an organism. AS functions in a range of physiological processes, including plant disease resistance, but its biological roles and functional mechanisms remain poorly understood. Many plant disease resistance (R) genes undergo AS, and several R genes require alternatively spliced transcripts to produce R proteins that can specifically recognize pathogen invasion. In the finely-tuned process of R protein activation, the truncated isoforms generated by AS may participate in plant disease resistance either by suppressing the negative regulation of initiation of immunity, or by directly engaging in effector-triggered signaling. Although emerging research has shown the functional significance of AS in plant biotic stress responses, many aspects of this topic remain to be understood. Several interesting issues surrounding the AS of R genes, especially regarding its functional roles and regulation, will require innovative techniques and additional research to unravel.
可变剪接（AS）在植物中广泛存在，并且能够为生物体中转录组和蛋白质组的多样性提供主要来源。可变剪接在一系列生理过程中发挥作用，包括植物抗病性，但对其生物学作用和功能机制仍知之甚少。许多植物抗病（R）基因会发生可变剪接，并且一些R基因需要可变剪接的转录本才能产生能够特异性识别病原体入侵的R蛋白。在R蛋白激活的精细调控过程中，可变剪接产生的截短异构体可能通过抑制免疫起始的负调控，或直接参与效应子触发的信号传导来参与植物抗病性。尽管新出现的研究已经表明可变剪接在植物生物胁迫反应中的功能重要性，但该主题的许多方面仍有待了解。围绕R基因可变剪接的几个有趣问题，特别是关于其功能作用和调控，将需要创新技术和更多研究来阐明。
