Tilsner Jens
Biomedical Sciences Research Complex, University of St Andrews, BMS Building, North Haugh, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9ST, Scotland, U.K. and Cell & Molecular Sciences, The James Hutton Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee, DD2 5DA, Scotland, U.K.
J Microsc. 2015 Apr;258(1):1-5. doi: 10.1111/jmi.12208. Epub 2014 Dec 19.
Since the discovery of small RNAs and RNA silencing, RNA biology has taken a centre stage in cell and developmental biology. Small RNAs, but also mRNAs and other types of cellular and viral RNAs are processed at specific subcellular localizations. To fully understand cellular RNA metabolism and the various processes influenced by it, techniques are required that permit the sequence-specific tracking of RNAs in living cells. A variety of methods for RNA visualization have been developed since the 1990s, but plant cells pose particular challenges and not all approaches are applicable to them. On the other hand, plant RNA metabolism is particularly diverse and RNAs are even transported between cells, so RNA imaging can potentially provide many valuable insights into plant function at the cellular and tissue level. This Short Review briefly introduces the currently available techniques for plant RNA in vivo imaging and discusses their suitability for different biological questions.
自发现小RNA和RNA沉默现象以来，RNA生物学在细胞生物学和发育生物学中占据了核心地位。小RNA、mRNA以及其他类型的细胞和病毒RNA都是在特定的亚细胞定位进行加工处理的。为了全面理解细胞RNA代谢及其所影响的各种过程，需要能够对活细胞中的RNA进行序列特异性追踪的技术。自20世纪90年代以来，已经开发出了多种用于RNA可视化的方法，但植物细胞带来了特殊的挑战，并非所有方法都适用于它们。另一方面，植物RNA代谢特别多样化，RNA甚至在细胞间运输，因此RNA成像有可能在细胞和组织水平上为植物功能提供许多有价值的见解。本短文简要介绍了目前可用于植物RNA体内成像的技术，并讨论了它们对不同生物学问题的适用性。
