真菌中RNA干扰的生物学功能

Biological functions of RNA interference in fungi

摘要:

RNA干扰(RNA interference，RNAi)是一种保守的真核生物基因调控机制，它利用小的非编码RNA介导转录/转录后的基因沉默。虽然部分真菌丢失了RNAi系统，但随着对真菌RNAi机制研究的增加，越来越多的证据表明，真菌的RNAi系统不但参与维持基因组完整性，其在调节真菌生长发育、介导异染色质组装、促进着丝粒进化、调节真菌耐药性与毒力等方面也具有重要作用。本文主要对真菌中RNAi的生物学功能进行综述，以期为进一步深入研究真菌RNA干扰机制提供一定的理论与研究基础。

Abstract:

RNA interference (RNAi) is a conserved eukaryotic mechanism that uses small non-coding RNAs to mediate transcriptional/post-transcriptional gene silencing. Despite the deficiency of RNAi mechanism in some fungi, evidence accumulates that fungal RNAi not only maintains genome integrity but also plays a pivotal role in the regulation of fungal growth and development, heterochromatin formation, centromere evolution, and development of fungal drug resistance and pathogenicity. This review summarizes the biological functions of RNAi in fungi, which is expected to lay a basis for further research on the mechanism of fungal RNAi.