Department of Cancer Immunology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital-Radiumhospitalet, Oslo, Norway.
Methods Mol Biol. 2021;2282:1-15. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1298-9_1.
The discovery that gene expression can be silenced by exogenously introduced double-stranded RNAs into cells unveiled a hidden level of gene regulation by a variety of small RNA pathways, which are involved in regulating endogenous gene expression, defending against virus infections, and protecting the genome from invading transposons, both at the posttranscriptional and epigenetic levels. All endogenous RNA interference pathways share a conserved effector complex, which contains at least an argonaute protein and a short single-stranded RNA. Such argonaute-RNA complexes can repress the transcription of genes, target mRNA for site-specific cleavage, or block mRNA translation into proteins. This review outlines the history of RNAi discovery, function, and mechanisms of action. For comparison, it also touches on CRISPR interference.
外源双链 RNA 导入细胞可沉默基因表达，这一发现揭示了各种小 RNA 通路通过调控内源性基因表达、抵御病毒感染以及在转录后和表观遗传水平保护基因组免受转座子入侵，从而实现基因调控的隐藏层面。所有内源性 RNA 干扰通路都共享一个保守的效应复合物，该复合物至少包含一个 Argonaute 蛋白和一个短的单链 RNA。这种 Argonaute-RNA 复合物可以抑制基因转录、靶向特定位置切割 mRNA，或阻止 mRNA 翻译成蛋白质。本综述概述了 RNAi 的发现、功能和作用机制。为了进行比较，还涉及了 CRISPR 干扰。
