| Literature DB >> 11435167 |
P M Waterhouse1, M B Wang, E J Finnegan.
Abstract
Recent research has revealed the existence of an elegant defence mechanism in plants and lower eukaryotes. The mechanism, known in plants as post-transcriptional gene silencing, works through sequence-specific degradation of RNA. It appears to be directed by double-stranded RNA, associated with the production of short 21-25 nt RNAs, and spread through the plant by a diffusible signal. The short RNAs are implicated as the guides for both a nuclease complex that degrades the mRNA and a methyltransferase complex that methylates the DNA of silenced genes. It has also been suggested that these short RNAs might be the mobile silencing signal, a suggestion that has been challenged recently.Mesh:
Substances:
Year: 2001 PMID: 11435167 DOI: 10.1016/s1360-1385(01)01989-6
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Trends Plant Sci ISSN: 1360-1385 Impact factor: 18.313