Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, Center for Plant Cell Biology, Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
Department of Phytopathology, Interdisciplinary Research Center for Biosystems, Land Use and Nutrition, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany.
Curr Opin Microbiol. 2018 Dec;46:58-64. doi: 10.1016/j.mib.2018.02.003. Epub 2018 Mar 14.
In plants, small RNA (sRNA)-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) is critical for regulating host immunity against bacteria, fungi, oomycetes, viruses, and pests. Similarly, sRNAs from pathogens and pests also play an important role in modulating their virulence. Strikingly, recent evidence supports that some sRNAs can travel between interacting organisms and induce gene silencing in the counter party, a mechanism termed cross-kingdom RNAi. Exploiting this new knowledge, host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) by transgenic expression of pathogen gene-targeting double-stranded (ds)RNA has the potential to become an important disease-control method. To circumvent transgenic approaches, direct application of dsRNAs or sRNAs (environmental RNAi) onto host plants or post-harvest products leads to silencing of the target microbe/pest gene (referred to spray-induced gene silencing, SIGS) and confers efficient disease control. This review summarizes the current understanding of cross-kingdom RNA trafficking and environmental RNAi and how these findings can be developed into novel effective strategies to fight diseases caused by microbial pathogens and pests.
在植物中,小 RNA(sRNA)介导的 RNA 干扰(RNAi)对于调节宿主对细菌、真菌、卵菌、病毒和害虫的免疫至关重要。同样,来自病原体和害虫的 sRNAs 也在调节它们的毒力方面发挥着重要作用。引人注目的是,最近的证据支持一些 sRNAs 可以在相互作用的生物体之间传播,并在对立方中诱导基因沉默,这种机制称为跨领域 RNAi。利用这一新知识,通过转基因表达靶向病原菌基因的双链 RNA(dsRNA)进行的寄主诱导基因沉默(HIGS)有可能成为一种重要的疾病控制方法。为了规避转基因方法,直接将 dsRNA 或 sRNA(环境 RNAi)应用于宿主植物或收获后的产品上,可导致目标微生物/害虫基因沉默(称为喷雾诱导基因沉默,SIGS),并有效控制疾病。本综述总结了目前对跨领域 RNA 运输和环境 RNAi 的理解,以及如何将这些发现开发成防治由微生物病原体和害虫引起的疾病的新有效策略。