非编码RNA是当今国际生物学研究的热点之一。包括 miRNA 和 siRNA 在内的小RNA和长非编码RNA( lncRNA)可以在转录和转录后水平调节基因表达,在植物生长、发育、生物和非生物逆境生理等方面起着重要的调控作用。我国在植物非编码RNA的机理和应用方面的研究起步较早,通过近10年的蓬勃发展,涌现了一批从事植物非编码RNA研究的优秀团队。这些团队在模式植物拟南芥及水稻等农作物非编码RNA的产生、工作机理和应用研究上取得了一系列的重要突破性进展,在某些研究方向上处于国际领先水平,为我国植物非编码RNA研究的进一步发展打下了扎实的基础。本文对近年来植物非编码RNA领域国内外的重要进展进行了简要概述,并展望了未来植物非编码RNA的研究方向和拟解决的科学问题。
Eukaryotic genomes encode thousands of non-cod-ing RNAs ( ncRNAs ) , which regulate gene expression at transcriptional or post-transcriptional level. In gener-al, non-coding RNAs refer to groups of small RNAs such as microRNAs ( miRNAs ) and short interference RNA ( siRNA ) , and long noncoding RNAs ( lncR-NAs) . The past decade has seen a great advance in our understanding of the biogenesis and biological function of ncRNAs in plants. These ribo-regulators play impor-tant and diverse roles in plant physiology, development and plant-environment interaction. Notably, the re-search groups in China have made progress in disection the funtion of small RNAs and lncRNAs in crops. In this review, we first summarize the recent research ad-vances in this field and then turn to discuss the related unanswered questions and future directions.