植物病毒卫星核酸的研究进展

Research Advance in Plant Virus Associated Satellite Nucleic Acids

植物病毒卫星核酸是已知的最小的侵染因子之一,其起源、致病性以及复制机制一直都是研究的热点。目前研究认为,植物病毒卫星核酸最有可能来源于寄主植物基因组或辅助病毒基因组,植物病毒卫星核酸、辅助病毒及寄主三者相互作用对辅助病毒的积累量及寄主病症的发展有调节作用。植物病毒卫星核酸不能自我复制,它们依赖于辅助病毒进行复制,然而,由于结构不同它们的复制方式也不完全相同。自发现以来,这类小的亚病毒分子已成为研究植物细胞中大分子间的互作及其辅助病毒复制机制的简单模型。本文主要总结了植物病毒卫星核酸在复制机制、起源、致病性及应用方面取得的研究进展。

Satellite molecules associated with plant viruses are one of the smallest known infectious agents. Their origins, pathogenicity and replication mechanism have been studied extensively. Current results suggest that satellite nucleic acids are most likely originated from the genome of the host plants or the helper viruses. The interaction among satellite nucleic acids, helper viruses and hosts could regulate the accumulation of helper viruses and affect the symptom development of the host plants. Satellite nucleic acids are completely dependent on the helper viruses for replication. However, they may have different replication strategies depending on their structure. After their discovery, these subviral molecules have been used as the models to study the interactions between macromolecules in plant cells and replication mechanisms of the helper viruses. This paper summarizes the recent achievements in understanding replication mechanism, origins, pathogenicity and potential application of satellite nucleic acids associated with plant viruses.