COMMENTARY

Small RNA, No Small Feat: Plants Deploy 22 nt siRNAs to Cope with Environmental Stress

Expand
  • 1College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
    2Center for Plant Biology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Received date: 2020-05-01

  Accepted date: 2020-05-02

  Online published: 2020-05-02

Abstract

RNAs can be classified into protein-coding RNAs and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) are generated by Dicer-LIKEs (DCLs) and RNA Dependent RNA Polymerases (RDRs). They are associated with different ARGONAUTE (AGO) effector complexes and play important regulatory roles in diverse biological processes. 21 nt microRNAs (miRNAs) and 24 nt small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are the most abundant classes of sRNAs in plants. The mechanisms of their biogenesis and functions are well studied. However, the functions of other less abundant sRNAs remain largely unknown. A recent study from Prof. Hongwei Guo's group at Southern University of Science and Technology showed that a class of 22 nt siRNAs is produced by RDR6 and DCL2 when plants are under certain stress conditions, especially upon nitrogen deficiency. These 22 nt siRNAs are loaded into AGO1 and mediate translational repression of target mRNAs including nitrate reductase structural genes NIA1/2, thereby minimizing energy consumption. This work elegantly shows that plants deploy 22 nt siRNAs to achieve a deliberate balance between growth and defense in response to environmental stress.

Cite this article

Liang Wu, Yijun Qi . Small RNA, No Small Feat: Plants Deploy 22 nt siRNAs to Cope with Environmental Stress[J]. Chinese Bulletin of Botany, 2020 , 55(3) : 270 -273 . DOI: 10.11983/CBB20070

References

[1] Deleris A, Gallego-Bartolome J, Bao J, Kasschau KD, Carrington JC, Voinnet O (2006). Hierarchical action and inhibition of plant Dicer-like proteins in antiviral defen-se. Science 313, 68-71. (Erratum in: Science, 2016 351. pii: aaf2336. doi: 10.1126/science.aaf2336)
[2] Deng PC, Muhammad S, Cao M, Wu L (2018). Biogenesis and regulatory hierarchy of phased small interfering RNAs in plants. Plant Biotechnol J 16, 965-975.
[3] Hua CL, Zhao JH, Guo HS (2018). Trans-Kingdom RNA silencing in plant-fungal pathogen interactions. Mol Plant 11, 235-244.
[4] Li SB, Liu L, Zhuang XH, Yu Y, Liu XG, Cui X, Ji LJ, Pan ZQ, Cao XF, Mo BX, Zhang FC, Raikhel N, Jiang LW, Chen XM (2013). MicroRNAs inhibit the translation of target mRNAs on the endoplasmic reticulum in Arabidop-sis. Cell 153, 562-574.
[5] Song XW, Li Y, Cao XF, Qi YJ (2019). MicroRNAs and their regulatory roles in plant-environment interactions. Annu Rev Plant Biol 70, 489-525.
[6] Wu H, Li B, Iwakawa H, Pan Y, Tang X, Ling-hu Q, Liu Y, Sheng S, Li F, Zhang H, Zhang X, Tang Z, Xia X, Zhai J, Guo H (2020). Plant 22 nt siRNAs mediate translational repression and stress adaptation. Nature 581, 89-93.
[7] Zhang XY, Zhu Y, Liu XD, Hong XY, Xu Y, Zhu P, Shen Y, Wu HH, Ji YS, Wen X, Zhang C, Zhao Q, Wang YC, Lu J, Guo HW (2015). Suppression of endogenous gene silencing by bidirectional cytoplasmic RNA decay in Arabi-dopsis. Science 348, 120-123.
Outlines

/