RNA干扰技术在几项研究领域的应用

作为一项新的反向遗传学技术 ,RNA干扰技术正在越来越多地应用于包括鉴定基因功能、疾病治疗、植物病毒抗性研究在内的多项研究领域。在鉴定基因功能研究中 ,由于该技术的操作简便性 ,使得在基因组水平进行大范围的基因功能鉴定成为可能 ;而针对致病相关基因、致病病毒基因组进行RNA干扰 ,可以有效抑制病情恶化 ,有可能成为未来疾病治疗的重要手段 ;同时 ,将RNA干扰技术应用于植物抗病毒研究 ,为工程化植物抗病毒遗传育种提供了一个高效、特异的抗性获得手段。对RNA干扰技术在上述三个研究领域的应用作简要综述 ,并对应用过程中需注意的问题进行了探讨 。

Application of RNA Interference to Several Research Fields

As a new reverse genetic technology,RNAi is used widely in kinds of research fields,including detection of gene function,diseases therapy,plant resistance to virus and so on.Basing on the simplicity of this technology,it makes possible to detect numbers of genes in a large scale as genome level.Targeting the genes related to diseases and genome of viruses,RNAi is able to suppress diseases exacerbation,and is potential to be used in molecular therapy.Furthermore,RNAi provides an available tool to endow plant with virus resistance.This paper reviewed the application of RNAi to the three fields above and discussed several problems that should be noticed in the application of RNAi.