The RNA Silencing Pathway: The Bits and Pieces That Matter
Citations Over TimeTop 17% of 2005 papers
Abstract
Cellular pathways are generally proposed on the basis of available experimental knowledge. The proposed pathways, however, may be inadequate to describe the phenomena they are supposed to explain. For instance, by means of concise mathematical models we are able to reveal shortcomings in the current description of the pathway of RNA silencing. The silencing pathway operates by cleaving siRNAs from dsRNA. siRNAs can associate with RISC, leading to the degradation of the target mRNA. We propose and analyze a few small extensions to the pathway: a siRNA degrading RNase, primed amplification of aberrant RNA pieces, and cooperation between aberrant RNA to trigger amplification. These extensions allow for a consistent explanation for various types of silencing phenomena, such as virus induced silencing, transgene and transposon induced silencing, and avoidance of self-reactivity, as well as for differences found between species groups.
Related Papers
- → Arabidopsis DRB4, AGO1, AGO7, and RDR6 participate in a DCL4-initiated antiviral RNA silencing pathway negatively regulated by DCL1(2008)420 cited
- → AGO/RISC-mediated antiviral RNA silencing in a plant in vitro system(2013)104 cited
- → A viral suppressor of RNA silencing inhibits ARGONAUTE 1 function by precluding target RNA binding to pre-assembled RISC(2017)35 cited
- → A structural perspective of the protein–RNA interactions involved in virus-induced RNA silencing and its suppression(2009)17 cited
- Analysis Of 14-3-3 R Proteins Involved In Disease Resistance Using Virus-Induced Gene Silencing(2011)