植物双链RNA(double stranded RNA,dsRNA)能有效干扰同源基因的表达,近年来已成为功能基因组学研究上的新方法。本文综述了植物dsRNA介导的转基因沉默现象及其特点、分子作用机制、主要介导方法,以及近年来在植物功能基因组学研究上的应用情况。
RNA interference(RNAi) is a homology-dependent gene silencing technology. The double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) can target the coding or promoter region of a gene directly. Using hairpin structures (hpRNA), double-stranded RNA can be expressed in plants relatively easily, enabling this technology to be applied to a wide range of species to silence the gene expression. In this review, we will discuss the principles, approaches and applications of the dsRNA-mediated gene silencing technique for plant gene functional analysis.