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Published on: January 26, 2019
Small RNAs in viral infection and host defense
Sizolwenkosi Mlotshwa1, Gail J Pruss, Vicki Vance
1Department of Biological Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
Abstract:
Small RNAs are the key mediators of RNA silencing and related pathways in plants and other eukaryotic organisms. Silencing pathways couple the destruction of double-stranded RNA with the use of the resulting small RNAs to target other nucleic acid molecules that contain the complementary sequence. This discovery has revolutionized our ideas about host defense and genetic regulatory mechanisms in eukaryotes. Small RNAs can direct the degradation of mRNAs and single-stranded viral RNAs, the modification of DNA and histones, and the inhibition of translation. Viruses might even use small RNAs to do some targeting of their own to manipulate host gene expression. This review highlights the current understanding and new insights concerning the roles of small RNAs in virus infection and host defense in plants.
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