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Updated: Jul 2, 2026
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Double-stranded RNA Oral Delivery Methods to Induce RNA Interference in Phloem and Plant-sap-feeding Hemipteran Insects
Published on: May 4, 2018
Origins and evolution of eukaryotic RNA interference.
Svetlana A Shabalina1, Eugene V Koonin
1National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA. shabalin@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Trends in Ecology & Evolution
|August 22, 2008
Summary
The evolution of RNA interference (RNAi) involved independent origins for microRNA (miRNA) repertoires in plants and animals. However, early eukaryotes likely utilized small interfering RNA (siRNA) mechanisms, with protein machinery assembled from diverse ancestral sources.
Area of Science:
- Molecular Biology
- Evolutionary Biology
- Genetics
Background:
- Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) are key regulators of gene silencing through mRNA interactions.
- The identification of numerous miRNA genes and eukaryotic genome sequences provides an opportunity to study RNA interference (RNAi) evolution.
- Prokaryotic RNAi-like systems are functionally similar but not homologous to eukaryotic RNAi.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the evolutionary origins and development of RNA interference (RNAi) mechanisms.
- To compare the evolution of miRNA repertoires across different eukaryotic lineages.
- To understand the ancestral components of the RNAi machinery in eukaryotes.
Main Methods:
- Comparative genomics of miRNA genes across diverse eukaryotes.
- Analysis of conserved protein machinery involved in RNA interference.
- Functional and comparative analysis of prokaryotic RNAi-like systems.
Main Results:
- Plant and animal miRNA repertoires appear to have evolved independently.
- The last common ancestor of eukaryotes likely possessed siRNA-based RNAi mechanisms, indicated by conserved protein components.
- Eukaryotic RNAi machinery is composed of proteins with ancestral origins in archaea, bacteria, and phages, involved in DNA repair and RNA processing.
Conclusions:
- RNA interference (RNAi) evolved through a combination of independent innovations (miRNAs) and conserved ancestral mechanisms (siRNAs).
- The eukaryotic RNAi system is a mosaic, integrating proteins from various prokaryotic and viral lineages.
- Understanding RNAi evolution sheds light on the fundamental gene regulation processes in all domains of life.
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