Kolliopoulou Anna, Taning Clauvis N T, Smagghe Guy, Swevers Luc
Insect Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology Research Group, Institute of Biosciences and Applications, NCSR "Demokritos,"Aghia Paraskevi, Greece.
Laboratory of Agrozoology, Department of Crop Protection, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent UniversityGhent, Belgium.
Front Physiol. 2017 Jun 14;8:399. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2017.00399. eCollection 2017.
RNAi is applied as a new and safe method for pest control in agriculture but efficiency and specificity of delivery of dsRNA trigger remains a critical issue. Various agents have been proposed to augment dsRNA delivery, such as engineered micro-organisms and synthetic nanoparticles, but the use of viruses has received relatively little attention. Here we present a critical view of the potential of the use of recombinant viruses for efficient and specific delivery of dsRNA. First of all, it requires the availability of plasmid-based reverse genetics systems for virus production, of which an overview is presented. For RNA viruses, their application seems to be straightforward since dsRNA is produced as an intermediate molecule during viral replication, but DNA viruses also have potential through the production of RNA hairpins after transcription. However, application of recombinant virus for dsRNA delivery may not be straightforward in many cases, since viruses can encode RNAi suppressors, and virus-induced silencing effects can be determined by the properties of the encoded RNAi suppressor. An alternative is virus-like particles that retain the efficiency and specificity determinants of natural virions but have encapsidated non-replicating RNA. Finally, the use of viruses raises important safety issues which need to be addressed before application can proceed.
RNA干扰作为一种新型且安全的农业害虫防治方法被应用，但双链RNA触发物的递送效率和特异性仍是一个关键问题。人们已提出多种增强双链RNA递送的介质，如工程微生物和合成纳米颗粒，但病毒的使用受到的关注相对较少。在此，我们对使用重组病毒高效且特异性递送双链RNA的潜力进行批判性审视。首先，这需要有基于质粒的反向遗传学系统来生产病毒，本文对此进行了概述。对于RNA病毒，其应用似乎较为直接，因为双链RNA在病毒复制过程中作为中间分子产生，但DNA病毒通过转录后产生RNA发夹也具有潜力。然而，在许多情况下，重组病毒用于双链RNA递送可能并非易事，因为病毒可编码RNA干扰抑制因子，且病毒诱导的沉默效应可由所编码的RNA干扰抑制因子的特性决定。一种替代方法是病毒样颗粒，其保留了天然病毒粒子的效率和特异性决定因素，但包裹的是不复制的RNA。最后，病毒的使用引发了重要的安全问题，在应用能够推进之前需要加以解决。
