RNA干扰及其在水稻抗病毒基因工程中的应用

RNA干扰(RNA interference,RNAi)是一种基因沉默机制。RNAi作为新兴的基因阻断技术具有明显的优势,已被广泛应用到动植物功能基因组和植物抗病研究中。在抗病毒研究中,人为地将与病毒或宿主基因同源的双链RNA分子导入转基因植株,引起与其同源的基因发生沉默,达到抗病毒的作用。本文主要综述了RNA干扰的相关知识以及在水稻抗病毒基因工程研究中的应用进展。     

RNAi基因沉默技术及其在植物抗病性改良中应用的策略

RNAi (RNA interference) 是一种由dsRNA参与、对靶基因表达进行干扰或沉默的现象。由此发展起来的RNAi基因沉默技术已成为当今植物基因功能研究和遗传改良的一个重要手段。该技术已经在靶向病原物(真菌、细菌、病毒和线虫)基因沉默方面得到了广泛的应用,并且产生了一批抗病性增强的转基因植物。人工设计和合成的amiRNAs和ata siRNAs的成功研发加快了RNAi技术的应用。本文对RNAi基因沉默机制、RNAi技术研发进展及其在植物抗病性遗传改良中的应用进行综述,并对其应用策略进行探讨。     

RNA沉默转基因技术在植物抗病虫害研究中的作用

RNA沉默技术由于其简便、高效及高特异性在各种模式和非模式生物系统中得到了广泛的应用。植物转基因技术是将植物、动物或微生物中分离到的目的基因,通过各种手段整合到植物基因组上,使其稳定遗传并赋予植物新的优良性状的生物技术。RNA沉默在植物转基因工程领域的研究十分广泛,目前已经成功研究培育出许多抗病毒、抗虫转基因植物,为农业病虫害的防控提供了新的思路和方法。本文重点综述了近年来植物转基因介导RNA沉默在抗虫与抗病毒研究方面的进展,加深人们对转基因植物抗虫与抗病毒研究的认识。     

正向和反向重复RNA介导的抗马铃薯Y病毒基因工程比较研究

 RNA介导的病毒抗性与RNA沉默现象密切相关。反向重复cDNA序列(IR)的转录产物往往形成双链RNA结构,而双链RNA是诱发RNA沉默的有效因子。据此,本研究通过体外合成马铃薯Y病毒坏死株系衣壳蛋白基因(PVY^N-CP)5'端反向重复cDNA序列和正向重复cDNA序列(DR),分别构建植物表达载体pROK-IR和pROK-DR,利用农杆菌介导方法转化烟草NC89,比较这2种转基因烟草在RNA介导抗病性方面的差异。抗病性检测表明,转化IR和DR的转基因烟草均可获得抗病程度达到免疫的植株,但转化IR序列可大大提高抗病植株在转基因植株中的比例。分析结果表明所获得的抗病性为RNA介导的抗病性,是RNA沉默的结果。这一研究结果为利用IR策略进行抗病毒遗传育种提供了理论依据,并为讲一步开展RNA介导抗病性的机制研究奠宗了基础。     

植物病毒基因沉默抑制因子研究进展

RNAi是近年来发现的一种重要的基因沉默现象,可以介入植物的整体防御体系,在植物细胞中产生一种不确定的流动信号,使远距离组织的特异RNA序列得到降解。为利于病毒的侵染,植物、动物和昆虫的病毒同时也编码一种蛋白来对抗RNAi,这类蛋白可以抑制RNA沉默的各个步骤,称为RNAi抑制因子,本文对几个研究较清楚的植物病毒抑制因子,从其发现到主要特点、作用机制等方面进行了阐述,并且依据其特点及前景进行归类与展望。     

利用RNA介导的抗病性获得抗2种病毒的转基因烟草

 RNA介导的病毒抗性(RMVR)是近年发展起来的一种新的植物抗病毒基因工程策略,具有抗病性强、抗性持久、生物安全性高等特点。利用该策略培育多抗病毒植株具有广阔的应用前景和重要的实践意义。本研究将非翻译的马铃薯X病毒的衣壳蛋白(PVX-CP)基因和非翻译的马铃薯Y病毒的衣壳蛋白(PVY-CP)基因组成嵌合基因,构建植物表达载体pROKXY,利用农杆菌介导法转化烟草NC89,获得6株对PVX和PVY的混合侵染表现为免疫的转基因植株。分子分析表明,这种抗性为RNA介导的病毒抗性。这一研究结果为利用RMVR进行植物多抗病毒育种提供了重要数据和资料。     

转录后基因沉默

 转录后基因沉默(PTGS)普遍存在于生物界,如植物的共抑制、源于病原的RNA介导的病毒抗性、真菌的基因沉默和动物的RNA干扰等。这类现象有许多共同特点,如都是以向细胞内引入核酸(转基因、双链RNA或病毒RNA)为诱因,依赖RNA的RNA聚合酶(RdRP)活性与基因沉默密切相关,在发生基因沉默的细胞中大多存在特定长度的小分子RNA (21~25 nt),PTGS导致细胞质内mRNA的特异性降解,不同生物的PTGS相关基因及产物具有很高的相似性,基因沉默能够在细胞间传播并能以表型遗传的方式传递给下一代等。这说明各种生物的转录后基因沉默可能有相似的遗传起源,是一种抵抗外来核酸(如病毒和转座子)入侵的共同的防御机制     

基于RNA干扰的生物农药的发展现状与展望

RNA干扰又称转录后基因沉默,是一种能有效沉默或抑制目标基因表达的新兴基因工程技术。基于RNA干扰的生物农药被认为是未来植保领域的颠覆性技术,将极大改变人类防治农业病、虫、草等有害生物的思路和策略。本文我们简单回顾了RNA干扰的基本作用机制和发展历程,全面总结了RNAi生物农药的研究水平和应用现状,深入分析了RNAi生物农药发展面临的机遇和挑战,以及未来的发展前景。以期为我国RNAi生物农药的研发提供参考。     

基于RNA干扰的杀菌剂开发及其对化学杀菌剂的影响

RNA干扰(RNA interference, RNAi)是真核生物中高度保守的基因沉默现象，在医药与植物保护领域展现出广阔的应用潜力，相关产品已进入或即将进入医药与杀虫剂市场。近年来，科研工作者在基于RNAi技术的植物病原微生物的防控方面开展了大量研究，取得了进展，但仍无法实现基于RNAi防治植物病原真菌技术的商业化应用。本文概述了RNAi研究从1990年至今的发展历程，从细胞生物学、分子生物学角度提出了RNAi病害防控技术产品化瓶颈问题的新见解，同时讨论了基于RNAi的杀菌剂对传统化学杀菌剂的影响，可为RNAi杀菌剂的创制和应用提供参考。     

小麦黄花叶病毒外壳蛋白基因RNAi表达载体的构建及遗传转化

小麦黄花叶病毒(Wheat yellow mosaic virus,WYMV)是马铃薯Y病毒科(Potyviridae)大麦黄花叶病毒属(Bymovirus)的成员,是危害我国小麦生产的一种重要病毒病害.RNA干扰是由dsRNA介导的,通过核酸序列特异性的相互作用来抑制基因表达的一种基因沉默现象,这种调控机制在植物抗病毒基因工程育种中已得到广泛应用.以RNA干扰为原理、以病毒的外壳蛋白基因为靶标,构建了抗WYMV的植物表达载体.采用基因枪方法共转化‘扬麦12’的幼胚愈伤组织,得到了再生植株.对To代进行PCR检测,得到15株阳性植株.     

Molecular breeding technologies and strategies for rust resistance in wheat (Triticum aestivum) for sustained food security

Wheat is an important cereal food crop providing key nutrients to humankind. Rusts are the most destructive pathogens of cereal crops, with the exception of rice, across the world and resistant cultivars have been widely employed to reduce the yield losses caused by them. The modern intensive monoculture of cultivars and changing climatic conditions has created congenial conditions for the emergence of new virulent races such as Ug99, which is a great concern for world food security. Conventional breeding efforts have not been effective in quickly developing new varieties with durable and broad‐spectrum resistance against the rapidly evolving rust pathogen races. However, in the last two decades, biotechnological methods such as marker‐assisted selection (MAS) and transgenic technology have provided novel strategies for enhancing resistance levels and durability in crop plants in a short span of time. Nevertheless, broad application of transgenics in agriculture is hindered by biosafety apprehensions. In recent years, improved versions of biotechnological breeding methods such as genomic selection, genome editing technologies, cisgenesis and intragenesis, RNA‐dependent DNA methylation (RdDM), agroinfiltration and reverse breeding are gaining popularity. These technologies provide a tremendous capability to manipulate crop plants more precisely than before and accelerate crop improvement efforts for sustained food production as well as overcoming safety concerns associated with food crops.     

Food safety assessment of crops engineered with RNA interference and other methods to modulate expression of endogenous and plant pest genes

Genetically modified crops have been grown commercially for more than two decades. Some of these crops have been modified with genetic constructs that induce gene silencing through RNA interference (RNAi). The targets for this silencing action are genes, either specific endogenous ones of the host plant or those of particular pests or pathogens infesting these plants. Recently emerging new genetic tools enable precise DNA edits with the same silencing effect and have also increased our knowledge and insights into the mechanisms of RNAi. For the assessment of the safety of foodstuffs from crops modified with RNAi, internationally harmonized principles for risk assessment of foods derived from genetically modified crops can be followed. Special considerations may apply to the newly expressed silencing RNA molecules, such as their possible uptake by consumers and interference with expression of host genes, which, however, would need to overcome many barriers. Bioinformatics tools aid the prediction of possible interference by a given RNA molecule with the expression of genes with homologous sequences in the host crop and in other organisms, or possible off‐target edits in gene‐edited crops. © 2020 The Author. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.     

A transgenic RNAi approach for developing tomato plants immune to Pepino mosaic virus

RNA interference (RNAi) or gene silencing is a natural defence response of plants to invading viruses. Here, we applied this approach against pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) isolates in their natural host, tomato. PepMV isolates differ in their genetic sequences, the severity of the disease they induce, and their worldwide distribution. PepMV causes heavy crop losses, mainly due to impaired tomato fruit quality. Resistant varieties are not yet available, despite many years of resistance breeding efforts within the tomato seed industry. To generate broad resistance to PepMV strains, conserved sequences from three different strains of PepMV (US1, LP, and CH2) were synthesized as a single insert and cloned in a hairpin configuration into a binary vector, which was used to transform tomato plants. Transgenic tomato lines that expressed a high level of transgene-siRNA exhibited immunity to PepMV strains, including a new Israeli isolate. This immunity was maintained even after graft inoculation, in which a transgenic scion was grafted onto nontransgenic infected rootstocks. However, an immune transgenic rootstock was unable to induce resistance in a nontransformed scion. These results provide the first example of engineered immunity to diverse PepMV strains in transgenic tomato based on gene silencing.     

Do we have the tools to manage resistance in the future?

Pesticide resistance is a major factor affecting world food and fibre production, but that has been contained so far by the availability of diverse modes of action. Overcoming resistance by switching to a new mode of action is a concept easily grasped by growers but threatened by losses through resistance and new registration requirements. Opportunities for innovation and development of a diversity of novel modes of action exist through harnessing recent advances, fundamental to all eukaryotes and largely funded for medical rather than agricultural objectives, in understanding cell biology and development. The cystoskeleton, cell wall synthesis, signal transduction and RNAi are discussed as examples where new targets are now exposed. However, new modes of action will be delivered not only by sprayer or seed treatment but also through transgenic crops, although these still need to be transferred from experiment to practice. Improvements in modelling protein structures and target-site changes, supplemented by rapid diagnostics to detect resistance early, will improve resistance risk management and integrate chemical, biopesticide, transgenic and conventional breeding around the concept of diversity in modes of action. However, before agronomy can translate this into practical antiresistance strategies, there is a need to direct more resources to the biochemistry and cell biology of pests, diseases and weeds to translate these new discoveries into key tools needed to manage resistance in the future.     

植物抗病毒的可能机制--基因沉默

根据目前RNA介导的植物病毒抗性(RMVR)、转录后基因沉默(PTGS)的研究成果,综述了基因沉默可能是植物抵抗病毒的一种机制,深入研究基因沉默不仅在抗病机制上有重要的理论意义,而且对彻底解决植物病毒问题有较大的潜在实用价值.     

Perspectives on transgenic,herbicide‐resistant crops in the United States almost 20 years after introduction

Herbicide‐resistant crops have had a profound impact on weed management. Most of the impact has been by glyphosate‐resistant maize, cotton, soybean and canola. Significant economic savings, yield increases and more efficacious and simplified weed management have resulted in widespread adoption of the technology. Initially, glyphosate‐resistant crops enabled significantly reduced tillage and reduced the environmental impact of weed management. Continuous use of glyphosate with glyphosate‐resistant crops over broad areas facilitated the evolution of glyphosate‐resistant weeds, which have resulted in increases in the use of tillage and other herbicides with glyphosate, reducing some of the initial environmental benefits of glyphosate‐resistant crops. Transgenic crops with resistance to auxinic herbicides, as well as to herbicides that inhibit acetolactate synthase, acetyl‐CoA carboxylase and hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase, stacked with glyphosate and/or glufosinate resistance, will become available in the next few years. These technologies will provide additional weed management options for farmers, but will not have all of the positive effects (reduced cost, simplified weed management, lowered environmental impact and reduced tillage) that glyphosate‐resistant crops had initially. In the more distant future, other herbicide‐resistant crops (including non‐transgenic ones), herbicides with new modes of action and technologies that are currently in their infancy (e.g. bioherbicides, sprayable herbicidal RNAi and/or robotic weeding) may affect the role of transgenic, herbicide‐resistant crops in weed management. Published 2014. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

RNAi as an emerging approach to control Fusarium head blight disease and mycotoxin contamination in cereals

Fusarium graminearum is a major fungal pathogen of cereals worldwide, causing seedling, stem base and floral diseases, including Fusarium head blight (FHB). In addition to yield and quality losses, FHB contaminates cereal grain with mycotoxins, including deoxynivalenol, which are harmful to human, animal and ecosystem health. Currently, FHB control is only partially effective due to several intractable problems. RNA interference (RNAi) is a natural mechanism that regulates gene expression. RNAi has been exploited in the development of new genomic tools that allow the targeted silencing of genes of interest in many eukaryotes. Host‐induced gene silencing (HIGS) is a transgenic technology used to silence fungal genes in planta during attempted infection and thereby reduces disease levels. HIGS relies on the host plant's ability to produce mobile small interfering RNA molecules, generated from long double‐stranded RNA, which are complementary to targeted fungal genes. These molecules are transferred from the plant to invading fungi via an uncharacterised mechanism, to cause gene silencing. Here, we describe recent advances in RNAi‐mediated control of plant pathogenic fungi, highlighting the key advantages and disadvantages. We then discuss the developments and implications of combining HIGS with other methods of disease control. © 2017 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.     

Bt-transgenic crops: just another pretty insecticide or a chance for a new start in resistance management?

Transgenic insect-resistant crops carrying genes from Bacillus thuringiensis were grown commercially for the first time in 1996 amid considerable public controversy about resistance management. Several resistance management strategies have been proposed for Bt-transgenic crops. The most promising with currently available technology is the use of refuges of non-transgenic crops, augmented where possible with high toxin expression in the plant and avoiding mosaics of different toxins and pesticides. One problem is that the refuge sizes that are seen as commercially and practically acceptable are generally too small to provide a comfortable margin for the delay of resistance. A promising long-term strategy for delaying resistance, and one which is more forgiving on refuge size, is the pyramiding of two or more insecticidal genes in the same plant. The critical limiting factor to resistance management for transgenic crops will be implementation, which will require cooperation among companies. ©1997 SCI