Phylogenetic comparison of small RNA-triggered transcriptional gene silencing

The discovery of RNA interference has revealed complex roles for small RNAs in regulating gene expression and cellular physiology. Small RNAs have been demonstrated to be involved in post-transcriptional suppression of translation, targeted degradation of messenger RNAs, and transcriptional suppression via epigenetic modifications of histones and DNA. In fission yeast, RNAi mediates suppression of centromeric transcripts, whereas in plants, transcriptional gene silencing appears to be primarily an antiviral mechanism. In mammals, the well annotated functional role of RNAi is primarily post-transcriptional, but there is increasing evidence that this mechanism can also work to suppress or modulate gene transcription, although it is not clear what primary function this serves. We overview, compare, and contrast the transcriptional silencing pathways in yeast, plants, and mammals in this article. This minireview is intended to provide the reader with a framework of how the RNAi machinery appears to be universally involved in various aspects of transcriptional regulation with discussions of similarities and differences in the components and mechanisms of achieving transcriptional silencing.