RNA duplexes in transcriptional regulation

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 285-296
Author(s):  
Sanjay Swaminathan ◽  
Chantelle L. Hood ◽  
Kazuo Suzuki ◽  
Anthony D. Kelleher

AbstractTranscriptional regulation by small RNA molecules, including small interfering RNA and microRNA, has emerged as an important gene expression modulator. The regulatory pathways controlling gene expression, post-transcriptional gene silencing and transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) have been demonstrated in yeast, plants and more recently in human cells. In this review, we discuss the currents models of transcriptional regulation and the main components of the RNA-induced silencing complex and RNA-induced transcriptional silencing complex machinery, as well as confounding off-target effects and gene activation. We also discuss RNA-mediated TGS within the NF-κB motif of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 5′ long tandem repeat promoter region and the associated epigenetic modifications. Finally, we outline the current RNA interference (RNAi) delivery methods and describe the current status of human trials investigating potential RNAi therapeutics for several human diseases.

Author(s):  
Angela Ricci ◽  
Silvia Sabbadini ◽  
Laura Miozzi ◽  
Bruno Mezzetti ◽  
Emanuela Noris

Abstract Since the beginning of agriculture, plant virus diseases have been a strong challenge for farming. Following its discovery at the very beginning of the 1990s, the RNA interference (RNAi) mechanism has been widely studied and exploited as an integrative tool to obtain resistance to viruses in several plant species, with high target-sequence specificity. In this chapter, we describe and review the major aspects of host-induced gene silencing (HIGS), as one of the possible plant defence methods, using genetic engineering techniques. In particular, we focus our attention on the use of RNAi-based gene constructs to introduce stable resistance in host plants against viral diseases, by triggering post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS). Recently, spray-induced gene silencing (SIGS), consisting of the topical application of small RNA molecules to plants, has been explored as an alternative tool to the stable integration of RNAi-based gene constructs in plants. SIGS has great and innovative potential for crop defence against different plant pathogens and pests and is expected to raise less public and political concern, as it does not alter the genetic structure of the plant.


Blood ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 104 (11) ◽  
pp. 5266-5266
Author(s):  
Michael Koldehoff ◽  
Nina K. Steckel ◽  
Rudolf Trenschel ◽  
Dietrich W. Beelen ◽  
Ahmet H. Elmaagacli

Abstract Multiple myeloma (MM) is a clonal B-cell malignancy characterized by the accumulation of malignant plasma cells within the bone marrow (BM). Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a glycoprotein produced by normal and neoplastic cells is an important regulator of physiological and pathological angiogenesis. MM cells secrete VEGF, which promotes production of cytokines in bone marrow stromal cells, as well as migration and proliferation of the tumor cells. Inhibition of VEGF activity or disabling the function of its receptors has been shown to inhibit both tumor growth and spread of metastases in a variety of animal tumor models. RNA interference (RNAi) is rapidly being established as a post-transcriptional gene silencing method and holds promise to specifically inhibit gene expression in mammals. Another novel class of antitumor agents is based on the inhibition of the ubiquitin-proteosomal system which represents the major nonlysosomal pathway through which intracellular proteins are degraded in eukaryotic cells. Bortezomib, a reversible proteosome inhibitor, shows remarkable anticancer activity in various malignant cell types, including MM cells that are resistant to conventional therapies. We studied the effect of transfection with small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting VEGF in MM cells in terms of proliferation, induction of apoptosis, and cell differentiation. Further, we evaluated if the effects of post-transcriptional gene silencing by VEGF specific siRNA can be augmented by bortezomib and/or steroids in the cell line OPM-2. A mean reduction of VEGF gene expression to 38% as determined by real-time PCR was observed with 0.8 ug VEGF siRNA in OPM-2 cells compared to controls (controls were set up to 100%). Simultaneous administration of bortezomib and siRNA was able to reduce VEGF gene expression down to 23% compared to VEGF siRNA alone demonstrating a synergistic effect of combined bortezomib and siRNA treatment. We found a 2.5-fold increase in induced apoptosis in OPM-2 cells subsequent to VEGF siRNA administration but we saw no additional stimulation of apoptosis after combination of VEGF siRNA with bortezomib and/or steroids. Proliferation in OPM-2 cells was strongly inhibited (about 91%) following combination treatment as opposed to only 62% after administration of VEGF siRNA alone. The transfection of VEGF siRNA in OPM-2 cells had no influence on the expression levels of differentiation markers such as CD38, CD138, CD19, CD34, CD45, and CD7AAD. Our findings suggest that synergistic effects of VEGF siRNA with bortezomib and dexamethason may offer new therapeutic options in the treatment of MM.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marius van den Beek ◽  
Bruno da Silva ◽  
Juliette Pouch ◽  
Mohammed el amine Ali Chaouche ◽  
Clément Carré ◽  
...  

AbstractpiRNA-mediated repression of transposable elements (TE) in the germline limits the accumulation of heritable mutations caused by their transposition in the genome. It is not clear whether the piRNA pathway plays a functional role in adult, non-gonadal tissues in Drosophila melanogaster. To address this question, we first analyzed the small RNA content of adult Drosophila melanogaster heads. We found that varying amount of piRNA-sized, ping-pong positive molecules in heads correlates with contamination by gonadal tissue during RNA extraction, suggesting that most of piRNAs detected in head sequencing libraries originate from gonads. We next sequenced the heads of wild type and piwi mutants to address whether piwi loss of function would affect the low amount of piRNA-sized, ping-pong negative molecules that are still detected in heads hand-checked to avoid gonadal contamination. We find that loss of piwi does not affect significantly these 24-28 RNA molecules. Instead, we observe increased siRNA levels against the majority of Drosophila transposable element families. To determine the effect of this siRNA level change on transposon expression, we sequenced the transcriptome of wild type, piwi, dicer-2 and piwi, dicer-2 double-mutant fly heads. We find that RNA expression levels of the majority of TE families in piwi or dicer-2 mutants remain unchanged and that TE transcript abundance increases significantly only in piwi, dicer-2 double-mutants. These results lead us to suggest a dual-layer model for TE repression in adult somatic tissues. Piwi-mediated transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) established during embryogenesis constitutes the first layer of TE repression whereas Dicer-2-dependent siRNA-mediated post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) provide a backup mechanism to repress TEs that escape silencing by piwi-mediated TGS.


2004 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 472-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tony Nolan ◽  
Carlo Cogoni

Small RNA molecules such as siRNAs and miRNAs represent a new class of molecules that have been implicated in a wide range of diverse gene silencing phenomena. It is now becoming clear that these two similar molecules share several common features in both their biogenesis and their mechanism of action. Thus, the siRNA and miRNA pathways may have evolved from a common ancestral mechanism that has diverged to play important roles in developmental regulation, genomic organisation, and cellular defence against foreign nucleic acids.Key words: miRNA, siRNA, post-transcriptional gene silencing, RNAi, heterochromatin.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A. A. Minow ◽  
Viktoriya Coneva ◽  
Victoria Lesy ◽  
Max Misyura ◽  
Joseph Colasanti

AbstractIn plants, small RNA (sRNA) can regulate gene expression via post transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) or through RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) leading to transcriptional gene silencing (TGS). sRNA is mobile throughout the plant, with movement occurring short distances from cell-to-cell as well as long distances through the vasculature via phloem trafficking. The range of long-distance sRNA mediated signaling from the vasculature to the shoot apical meristem (SAM) is not clear. To investigate this, two independent transgenic approaches were used to examine trafficking of phloem-expressed sRNA to the SAM in Arabidopsis thaliana. First, the phloem companion-cell specific promoter SUC2 was used to drive expression of an inverted repeat complementary to FLOWERING LOCUS D (FD), a flowering time regulator expressed exclusively in the SAM. In a separate experiment, the SUC2 promoter was used to express an artificial microRNA (aMiR) designed to target a synthetic CLAVATA3 (CLV3) target in the SAM stem cells. Both systems provide evidence of a phloem-to-SAM sRNA communication axis connecting distal regions of the plant to the stem cells of the SAM, which ultimately gives rise to all shoot tissues, including gametes. Thus, phloem-to-SAM sRNA movement defines an important link between sRNA expressed in distal regions of the plant and the growing shoot. Importantly, phloem-to-SAM sRNA trafficking may allow somatic sRNA to direct SAM RdDM, fixing transient sRNA expression events into stable epigenetic changes.


Author(s):  
Angela Ricci ◽  
Silvia Sabbadini ◽  
Laura Miozzi ◽  
Bruno Mezzetti ◽  
Emanuela Noris

Abstract Since the beginning of agriculture, plant virus diseases have been a strong challenge for farming. Following its discovery at the very beginning of the 1990s, the RNA interference (RNAi) mechanism has been widely studied and exploited as an integrative tool to obtain resistance to viruses in several plant species, with high target-sequence specificity. In this chapter, we describe and review the major aspects of host-induced gene silencing (HIGS), as one of the possible plant defence methods, using genetic engineering techniques. In particular, we focus our attention on the use of RNAi-based gene constructs to introduce stable resistance in host plants against viral diseases, by triggering post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS). Recently, spray-induced gene silencing (SIGS), consisting of the topical application of small RNA molecules to plants, has been explored as an alternative tool to the stable integration of RNAi-based gene constructs in plants. SIGS has great and innovative potential for crop defence against different plant pathogens and pests and is expected to raise less public and political concern, as it does not alter the genetic structure of the plant.


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