Liu Degao, Mewalal Ritesh, Hu Rongbin, Tuskan Gerald A, Yang Xiaohan
Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6422, USA.
Hortic Res. 2017 Jul 5;4:17031. doi: 10.1038/hortres.2017.31. eCollection 2017.
Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), that is, RNAs not translated into proteins, are crucial regulators of a variety of biological processes in plants. While protein-encoding genes have been relatively well-annotated in sequenced genomes, accounting for a small portion of the genome space in plants, the universe of plant ncRNAs is rapidly expanding. Recent advances in experimental and computational technologies have generated a great momentum for discovery and functional characterization of ncRNAs. Here we summarize the classification and known biological functions of plant ncRNAs, review the application of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology and ribosome profiling technology to ncRNA discovery in horticultural plants and discuss the application of new technologies, especially the new genome-editing tool clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) systems, to functional characterization of plant ncRNAs.
非编码RNA（ncRNAs），即不翻译成蛋白质的RNA，是植物中多种生物过程的关键调节因子。虽然在已测序的基因组中，编码蛋白质的基因已得到相对较好的注释，在植物基因组空间中占比小，但植物ncRNAs的种类正在迅速扩展。实验和计算技术的最新进展为ncRNAs的发现和功能表征带来了巨大动力。在这里，我们总结了植物ncRNAs的分类和已知生物学功能，回顾了下一代测序（NGS）技术和核糖体谱分析技术在园艺植物ncRNA发现中的应用，并讨论了新技术，特别是新型基因组编辑工具成簇规律间隔短回文重复序列（CRISPR）/CRISPR相关蛋白9（Cas9）系统在植物ncRNAs功能表征中的应用。
