RNAi, PTGS and quelling - three variations on one subject?

Szweykowska-Kulińska, Zofia; Jarmołowski, Artur; Figlerowicz, Marek

doi:0860-7796

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RNAi, PTGS i quelling - trzy wariacje na jeden temat? Szweykowska-Kulińska, ZofiaJarmołowski, ArturFiglerowicz, Marek

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RNAi, PTGS i quelling - trzy wariacje na jeden temat?

RNAi, PTGS and quelling - three variations on one subject?

Szweykowska-Kulińska, Zofia ; Jarmołowski, Artur ; Figlerowicz, Marek

Komitet Biotechnologii PAN ; Instytut Chemii Bioorganicznej PAN

2003

biotechnologia

In 1990, it was already discovered that plant transformation with a transgenecontaining its homologue in the plant nuclear genome is able to promote silencing of both the transgene and the homologous, endogenous gene. The phenomenon was named posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS) or co-suppression.The same results were obtained when a transgene was introduced into the nuclear genome of fungus Neurospora crassa. This process was termed quelling. In1998, RNAi (RNA interference) was discovered in the Caenorhabditis elegansworm. Specific gene silencing occurred after the introduction into the wormcells of double stranded RNA with sequence complementarity to the endogenous gene. It was shown that RNAi operates at the stage ofthe mature mRNA inthe cytoplasm. dsRNAs are converted into siRNAs (small interfering RNAs) dueto the Dicer enzyme activity. siRNAs are incorporated into the RISC (RNA - induced silencing complex). Active RISC promotes specific mRNA degradation.RNAi/PTGS/quelling processes show many mechanistic similarities, but they alsodiffer in some details. All of them represent an ancient mechanism that probably evolved to protect eukaryotic cells against invasive forms of nucleic acidslike viruses, transposons, and others.

Biotechnologia, vol.61, 2 (2003)-.