RNA silencing is a eukaryotic genome defence system that involves processing of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) into 21-26 nt, short interfering RNA (siRNA). The siRNA mediates suppression of genes corresponding to the dsRNA through targeted RNA degradation. In some plant systems there are additional silencing processes, involving systemic spread of silencing and RNA-directed methylation/transcript...

RNA silencing is a biochemical mechanism that regulates gene expression by post-transcriptionally activating a sequence-specific RNA degradation by three different pathways: (i) small interfering RNA (siRNA) silencing of exogenous mRNA; (ii) micro RNA (miRNA) silencing of endogenous mRNAs, and (iii) associated with DNA methylation and suppression of transcription [2]. These processes share thre...

RNA silencing is an important mechanism to regulate gene expression and antiviral defense in plants. Nevertheless, RNA silencing machinery in the important oil crop Brassica napus and function in resistance to the devastating fungal pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum are not well-understood. In this study, gene families of RNA silencing machinery in B. napus were identified and their role in res...

microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are small RNAs that repress gene expression at the post-transcriptional level in plants and animals. Small RNAs guide Argonaute-containing RNA-induced silencing complexes to target RNAs in a sequence-specific manner, resulting in mRNA deadenylation followed by exonucleolytic decay, mRNA endonucleolytic cleavage, or translational inhibition....

RNA silencing can be initiated by endogenous or exogenously delivered siRNAs. In Caenorhabditis elegans, RNA silencing guided by primary siRNAs is inefficient and therefore requires an siRNA amplification step involving RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RdRPs). Many factors involved in RNA silencing localize to protein- and RNA-rich nuclear pore-associated P granules in the germline, where they ar...

RNA silencing can be induced by highly transcribed transgenes through a pathway dependent on RNA-DEPENDENT RNA POLYMERASE6 (RDR6) and may function as a genome protection mechanism against excessively expressed genes. Whether all transcripts or just aberrant transcripts activate this protection mechanism is unclear. Consistent RNA silencing induced by a transgene with three direct repeats of the...

As the proper development of germlines is vital for species preservation, elaborative, regulatory systems for gene expression must operate in germlines. One such system is RNA silencing, sequence-specific gene silencing mechanisms mediated by small RNAs of 20-30 nucleotides long. Indeed, recent studies have revealed that various types of small RNAs are expressed germline-specifically. To preser...