siRNA与miRNA在生物体基因调控中沉默机制的比较

siRNA和miRNA的沉默机制是生物基因调控的重要手段之一.小干扰RNA(small interfering RNA,siRNA)是RNA干扰的引发物,激发与之互补的目标mRNA沉默.非编码RNA中的微小RNA(microRNA,miRNA),能够识别特定的目标mRNA,通过与mRNAs的3'非翻译区结合,影响该目标蛋白的翻译水平.siRNA和miRNA的基因调控机制对生物学研究及疾病的病因和治疗等有直接影响.本文主要对siRNAs和miRNAs的生物起源及沉默机制进行比较性论述:提出Dicers酶蛋白、Ago蛋白以及20 nt～25 nt的双链RNAs的3类大分子是RNA沉默的特征结构,并进行了说明性论述;总结性叙述了siRNA和miRNA的2类小分子经典沉默机制,并提出其异同点.最后,本文根据近期研究进展,对siRNA和miRNA的生物起源及沉默机制提出了新的疑问.     

真核生物中的微小RNA及其功能研究进展

真核生物中存在两种主要的非编码RNA(non-coding RNA),在真核生物中发挥重要作用。一类为微小RNA(microRNA,miRNA),另一为小干扰RNA(siRNA)。miRNA大小为19～25nt,在体内与蛋白质形成核糖核蛋白复合体(miRNP),在真核基因的表达调控,生长发育中起重要作用。siRNA在RNA干扰(RNA地 interference,RNAi)途径中起定位特异mRNA的作用。miRNA与siRNA有联系也有区别。miRNA在真核生物中的调控机制具有保守性。     

人工 microRNA 技术研究进展

RNA干扰（RNAi）是由双链RNA触发的在mRNA水平进行的特异靶序列的基因沉默现象,广泛存在于动物、植物和病毒中,主要包括小干扰RNA（siRNA）及微小RNA（miRNA）两种作用途径。人工miRNA（amiRNA）是将天然miRNA的成熟序列替换成人工设计的靶向其他感兴趣基因的反义序列,通过天然miRNA的生成和作用途径达到RNAi的效果,具有干扰效果明显、作用迅速、毒性低等优点,拥有广阔的应用前景。我们对基于amiRNA的基因沉默技术进行了较为系统的介绍和总结,梳理了该技术的优缺点和适用范围,并展望了其进一步发展的方向和应用前景。     

RNA干扰技术的原理与应用

RNA干扰(RNA interference,RNAi)是由双链RNA(double-stranded RNA,dsRNA)所引起的序列特异性基因沉默,是真核生物中一种非常保守的机制,它与协同抑制(cosuppression)、转座子沉默(transposon silencing)以及发育等许多重要的生物学过程密切相关。RNA干扰依赖于小干扰RNA(Small interference RNA,siRNA)与靶序列之间严格的碱基配对,具有很强的特异性,涉及众多基因和蛋白复合物,构成了一个以小RNA为核心的真核基因表达调控系统,它可以在染色质水平、转录水平、转录后水平和翻译水平参与基因表达的调节。RNA干扰技术为人们迅速、准确的剖析基因的功能,分析基因之间错综复杂的联系和相互作用提供了极为有用的工具,同时也为人们预防和治疗癌症和病毒疾病提供了新的思路。     

RNA干扰与染色质沉默——生物体内精密的网络调控机制

基因表达受不同层次的调控.RNA干扰通过产生双链小RNA诱导同源mRNA序列降解,从而在转录后抑制特定基因的表达.最新的研究成果显示：RNA干扰产生的双链小RNA可通过与染色质中的重复序列DNA及组蛋白甲基化酶相互作用,引起组蛋白H3 Lys9的甲基化,进一步与异染色质形成相关蛋白结合,导致染色质沉默.综述了RNA干扰,小RNA,组蛋白修饰,染色质沉默及基因表达调控之间存在着精密的网络调控机制.     

RNA干扰在疾病治疗方面的应用研究

RNA干扰是由双链RNA引起的序列特异的基因沉默现象。由于RNA干扰能在细胞组织及动物模型中沉默疾病相关基因,因此,RNA干扰也是各种疾病治疗的有效手段。在哺乳动物细胞内诱导RNA干扰可以通过导入小干扰RNA（siRNA）,或是以质粒、病毒为载体表达短的发夹RNA（shRNA）而实现。本文介绍了RNA干扰在疾病治疗方面的应用,并就其面临的挑战进行讨论。     

小RNA与蛋白质的相互作用

小分子调控RNA,包括siRNA（small interfering RNA）、miRNA（microRNA）和piRNA（piwiinteracting RNA）、hsRNA（heterochromatin associatedsmall RNA）等,是当前生命科学研究的前沿热点。越来越多的证据表明,这些小分子RNA存在于几乎所有较高等的真核生物细胞中,对生物体具有非常重要的调控功能。它们通过各种序列特异性的RNA基因沉默作用,包括RNA干扰（RNAi）、翻译抑制、异染色质形成等,调控诸如生长发育、应激反应、沉默转座子等各种各样的细胞进程。随着对这些小分子调控RNA的发现,一些RNascⅢ酶家族成员、Argonaute蛋白质家族成员及RNA结合蛋白质等先后被鉴定为小RNA的胞内蛋白质合作者,参与小RNA的加工成熟和在细胞内行使功能。本综述简介一些RNA沉默作用途径中重要组分的结构和功能的研究进展。     

小干扰RNA对庚型肝炎病毒基因在人Huh-7细胞中表达的抑制作用

RNA干扰(RNAi)是由小干扰RNA(siRNA)引发的生物细胞内同源基因的转录后基因沉默现象, 是近年来兴起的一项研究生物基因调控与功能的崭新技术. 庚型肝炎病毒(HGV)是一单正链RNA病毒, 复制时不与宿主细胞基因组整合, 尤其适合用于RNAi的研究. 构建了含HGV完整结构基因并携带筛选标志潮霉素基因的真核表达载体pVAX.EH, 转染Huh-7细胞后, 筛选获得稳定表达HGV 结构蛋白的Huh-7细胞株(Huh-7-EH). RT-PCR和Western blot检测证实, HGV结构基因能在Huh-7-EH细胞中转录、表达, 并能进行剪切和翻译后修饰. 以体外转录法制备了2对靶向HGV E2基因的siRNA(1-E2 siRNA和2-E2 siRNA), 将其导入Huh-7-EH细胞中, 采用Western blot和克隆形成实验证实, HGV 1-E2 siRNA和2-E2 siRNA均能特异性抑制HGV结 构蛋白的表达, 抑制作用可维持1周以上. 其中2-E2 siRNA的抑制作用更强, 转染后对Huh-7-EH细胞潮霉素抗性克隆形成的抑制率达到了99%. Huh-7-EH细胞转染siRNA后对潮霉素敏感, 说 明HGV E2 siRNA不仅使HGV E2区的mRNA降解, 还可使融合在HGV E2区下游的潮霉素mRNA降解. 综上所述, 本实验建立的稳定表达HGV结构蛋白的Huh-7-EH细胞株, 能作为用于研究HGV复制和RNAi的细胞模型; HGV结构基因区的siRNA可同时抑制HGV结构蛋白及其下游的潮霉素基因的表达, 证明RNAi在真核细胞Huh-7-EH内可能存在放大作用.     

RNA干扰作用(RNAi)研究进展

RNA干扰作用 (RNAi)是生物界一种古老而且进化上高度保守的现象 ,是基因转录后沉默作用 (PTGS)的重要机制之一 .RNAi主要通过dsRNA被核酸酶切割成 2 1～ 2 5nt的干扰性小RNA即siRNA ,由siRNA介导识别并靶向切割同源性靶mRNA分子而实现 .RNAi要有多种蛋白因子以及ATP参与 ,而且具有生物催化反应特征 .RNAi是新发现的一种通过dsRNA介导的特异性高效抑制基因表达途径 ,在后基因组时代的基因功能研究和药物开发中具有广阔应用前景     

siRNA脱靶效应研究进展

RNA干扰过程中,siRNA和mRNA特异结合能够使得靶基因沉默。但研究证实,siRNA可能与非靶基因结合而导致非靶基因沉默,这种现象称为siRNA脱靶效应。多种真核生物中的RNA干扰实验证实了脱靶效应的存在。对脱靶机制的研究发现脱靶可能与模体匹配、结构和长dsRNA等有关,很多新方法被提出来预测脱靶概率和检测脱靶基因。通过利用siRNApool、化学修饰和生物信息学方法能够尽可能地降低脱靶效应,提高RNAi实验的质量。对脱靶效应方面的研究进行了总结论述。     

miRNA，siRNA，saRNA与基因表达调控

近年来的研究发现,生物体内存在着大量的非编码RNA（non．codingRNAs,ncRNA）,它们在染色质修饰、基因转录、RNA剪接和mRNA翻译等多种水平上参与了基因表达的调控。ncRNA中的小分子RNA如miRNA能够识别特定的目标mRNA,通过与mRNAs3’非翻译区结合,影响mRNA转录及蛋白质翻译;siRNA是RNA干扰的引发物,能够导致与dsRNA同源的mRNA降解,进而抑制相应基因表达;saRNA是目前最新发现的一种靶向目的基因启动子区的在转录水平激活目的基因表达的dsRNA。miRNA、siRNA和saRNA在生成机制、作用途径等方面关系密切,既区别又相互联系,小分子RNA的研究将是今后分子生物学的研究热点之一。     

siRNA, miRNA and HIV: promises and challenges

Small interfering RNA (siRNA) and microRNA (miRNA) are small RNAs of 18-25 nucleotides (nt) in length that play important roles in regulating gene expression. They are incorporated into an RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) and serve as guides for silencing their corresponding target mRNAs based on complementary base-pairing. The promise of gene silencing has led many researchers to consider siRNA as an anti-viral tool. However, in long-term settings, many viruses appear to escape from this therapeutical strategy. An example of this may be seen in the case of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) which is able to evade RNA silencing by either mutating the siRNA-targeted sequence or by encoding for a partial suppressor of RNAi (RNA interference). On the other hand, because miRNA targeting does not require absolute complementarity of base-pairing, mutational escape by viruses from miRNA-specified silencing may be more difficult to achieve. In this review, we discuss stratagems used by various viruses to avoid the cells' antiviral si/mi-RNA defenses and notions of how viruses might control and regulate host cell genes by encoding viral miRNAs (vmiRNAs).     

microRNAs - powerful repression comes from small RNAs

microRNAs (miRNAs) encode a novel class of small, non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression post-trancriptionally. miRNAs comprise one of the major non-coding RNA families, whose diverse biological functions and unusual capacity for gene regulation have attracted enormous interests in the RNA world. Over the past 16 years, genetic, biochemical and computational approaches have greatly shaped the growth of the field, leading to the identification of thousands of miRNA genes in nearly all metazoans. The key molecular machinery for miRNA biogenesis and silencing has been identified, yet the precise biochemical and regulatory mechanisms still remain elusive. However, recent findings have shed new light on how miRNAs are generated and how they function to repress gene expression. miRNAs provide a paradigm for endogenous small RNAs that mediate gene silencing at a genome-wide level. The gene silencing mediated by these small RNAs constitutes a major component of gene regulation during various developmental and physiological processes. The accumulating knowledge about their biogenesis and gene silencing mechanism will add a new dimension to our understanding about the complex gene regulatory networks.     

Construction of siRNA/miRNA expression vectors based on a one-step PCR process

Background  

RNA interference (RNAi) has become a powerful means for silencing target gene expression in mammalian cells and is envisioned to be useful in therapeutic approaches to human disease. In recent years, high-throughput, genome-wide screening of siRNA/miRNA libraries has emerged as a desirable approach. Current methods for constructing siRNA/miRNA expression vectors require the synthesis of long oligonucleotides, which is costly and suffers from mutation problems.     

Small noncoding RNAs in the germline

Small noncoding RNAs have emerged as potent regulators of gene expression, especially in the germline. We review the biogenesis and regulatory function of three major small noncoding RNA pathways in the germline: The small interfering RNA (siRNA) pathway that leads to the degradation of target mRNAs, the microRNA (miRNA) pathway that mostly represses the translation of target mRNAs, and the newly discovered Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway that appears to have diverse functions in epigenetic programming, transposon silencing, and the regulation of mRNA translation and stability. The siRNA and miRNA pathways are present in the germline as well as many somatic tissues, whereas the piRNA pathway is predominantly confined to the germline. Investigation of the three small RNA pathways has started to reveal a new dimension of gene regulation with defining roles in germline specification and development.     

Gene Silencing Efficiency and INF-β Induction Effects of Splicing miRNA 155-Based Artificial miRNA with Pre-miRNA Stem-Loop Structures

Artificial microRNA (miRNA) expression vectors have been developed and used for RNA interference. The secondary structure of artificial miRNA is important for RNA interference efficacy. We designed two groups of six artificial splicing miRNA 155-based miRNAs (SM155-based miRNAs) with the same target in the coding region or 3' UTR of a target gene and studied their RNA silencing efficiency and interferon β (IFN-β) induction effects. SM155-based miRNA with a mismatch at the +1 position and a bulge at the +11, +12 positions in a miRNA precursor stem-loop structure showed the highest gene silencing efficiency and lowest IFN-β induction effect (increased IFN-β mRNA level by 10% in both target cases), regardless of the specificity of the target sequence, suggesting that pSM155-based miRNA with this design could be a valuable miRNA expression vector.