植物病毒抑制子抑制RNA沉默的机制及生物学应用

The Suppression Mechanism of Plant Viral Suppressors and their Biological Application

RNA沉默(RNA silencing)是真核生物细胞内保守的和序列特异的RNA降解系统。高等植物中病毒诱导的、以降解病毒为目标的RNA沉默是一种寄主适应性防御系统。为了对该系统进行防御,植物病毒已进化形成了在RNA沉默的不同阶段起作用,并最终战胜寄主沉默反应的病毒抑制蛋白。本文讨论了现今鉴定和初步分析抑制子的方法以及抑制子的作用模式;同时对植物沉默抑制子的生物学应用包括用抑制子解析RNA沉默途径、用抑制子增强外源蛋白表达水平以及抑制子引起发育缺陷等进行了讨论。

RNA silencing is a sequence-specific RNA degradation system that is conserved in eukaryotic cell, In high plants, RNA silencing serves as an adaptive antiviral defense system that is activated by, and targeted against, viruses. As a response to the defense system, viruses have evolved suppressor proteins that act at different points in the silencing pathway and ultimately overcome the host silencing response. In this paper, we discuss the current methods available for identification and preliminary analysis of silencing suppressors and their putative modes of action. We also discuss the biological value of silencing suppressors in plants including the probing RNA silencing pathway, the increase expression levels of protein and the developmental anomalies induced by silencing suppressors.