|
RNA
interference in plant parasitic nematodes
Mehmet
Karakaş
Ankara University Science and Engineering Faculty Department
of Biology 06100 Tandoğan-Ankara, Turkey. E-mail:
mkarakas@science.ankara.edu.tr. Fax: +90 312 223 23 95,
Tel.: +90 312 212 67 20.
Accepted 20 February, 2008 |
|
RNA interference (RNAi, also called RNA-mediated
interference) is a mechanism for RNA-guided regulation of
gene expression in which double-stranded ribonucleic acid
inhibits the expression of genes with complementary
nucleotide sequences. Conserved in most eukaryotic
organisms, the RNAi pathway is thought to have evolved as a
form of innate immunity against viruses and also plays a
major role in regulating development and genome maintenance.
RNAi has recently been demonstrated in plant parasitic
nematodes. It is a potentially powerful investigative tool
for the genome-wide identification of gene function that
should help improve our understanding of plant parasitic
nematodes. RNAi should help identify gene and, hence,
protein targets for nematode control strategies.
Key words:
RNA interference, RNAi, gene expression, plant parasitic
nematodes. |
