Ingested plant miRNAs regulate gene expression in animals

• 来源期刊: 细胞研究（英文版）
• 年，卷（期）: 2012,（1）
• 页码范围: 3-5
• 页数: 3页
• 语种: 英文
• DOI: 10.1038/cr.2011.164

摘要

The incidence of genetic material or epigenetic information transferred from one organism to another is an important biological question.A recent study demonstrated that plant small RNAs acquired orally through food intake directly influence gene expression in animals after migration through the plasma and delivery to specific organs.Non-protein coding RNAs,and in particular small RNAs,were recently revealed as master chief regulators of gene expression in all organisms.Endogenous small RNAs come in different flavors,depending on their mode of biogenesis.Most microRNAs (miRNA)and short interferring RNAs (siRNA)derive from long double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) precursors that are processed into small RNA duplexes,20 to 25-nt long,by RNaselll enzymes called Dicer [1].One strand of small RNA duplexes is loaded onto an Argonaute protein that executes silencing by cleaving or repressing the translation of homologous mRNA [2].In certain species,RNA cleavage is followed by DNA methylation and/or histone modification,leading to heritable epigenetic modification [3].