RNA Mediated Genetic Interference in C. elegans

RNA干扰(RNAi)最初被描述为一种由实验触发的基因沉默机制 将双链(DS)RNA导入线虫(Fire等人，1998年)。术语RNAi现在指的是 到一套具有共同特征的不同的基因调控机制，包括Short 21-To的参与 ArgAerte(RNase H相关)蛋白家族的30-核苷酸(NT)RNA和蛋白质辅助因子。作为一种 实验工具RN Ai与基础生物医学研究具有广泛的相关性，RN Ai疗法现已获得批准 并正在开发中，用于几种临床应用。RNAi相关机制在保守性遗传中的作用 对人类细胞和发育生物学具有基本和基本重要性的途径。 值得注意的是，线虫中的RNAi相关机制保留了所有mRNAs的清单，并允许基因在 生殖系，通过卵子和精子将这一信息代代相传。独树一帜的阿戈宇航员 通路在构成CSR-1的小RNA信号的跨代遗传中发挥作用 “自我”/保护性(RNAa途径)和WAGO“非自我”/沉默(RNAe途径)。第三条阿戈宇航员路径， PRG-1/Piwi途径扫描生殖系mRNA中的外源序列。目标1将探索这些阿加宇航员是如何 路径确定它们的目标并招募下游因素。目标2将调查这些阿加索特路径是如何 相互作用，以调解全基因组转录监测。最后，Aim 3将使用基因筛查来识别 RNAi和相关的RNAe、RNAa以及新发现的“无内含子沉默”途径所需的新基因。 将经典遗传学与技术相结合的能力，包括深度测序、简便的CRlSPR介导 基因组编辑和蛋白质组学使线虫成为这些研究的理想系统。机制和蛋白质 介导RNAi的家族在动物中高度保守，因此来自拟议研究的见解将是 与人类生物学和疾病直接相关。这些研究将揭示一种古老的基因调控机制。 它们在人类中的相关性很可能在保护人类基因组和 干细胞的维持。

RNA interference (RNAi) was originally described as a gene silencing mechanism triggered by the experimental introduction of double stranded (ds)RNA into the nematode C. elegans (Fire et al., 1998). The term RNAi now refers to a diverse set of gene-regulatory mechanisms that share common features, including the involvement of short 21- to 30-nucleotide (nt) RNAs and protein cofactors of the Argonaute (RNase H-related) protein family. As an experimental tool, RN Ai is of broad relevance to basic biomedical research, and RN Ai therapeutics are now approved and under development for several clinical applications. RNAi-related mechanisms function in conserved generegulato1y pathways that are of basic and fundamental importance to human cellular and developmental biology. Remarkably, RNAi-related mechanisms in C.elegans keep inventory of all mRNAs and license gene expression in the germline, passing this information via the egg and sperm from one generation to the next. Distinct Argonaute pathways function in the transgenerational inheritance of small-RNA signals that constitute the CSR-1 "self'/protective (RNAa pathway) and the WAGO "non-self'/silencing (RNAe pathway). A third Argonaute pathway, the PRG-1/Piwi pathway scans germline mRNA for foreign sequences. Aim 1 will explore how these Argonaute pathways identify their targets and recruit downstream factors. Aim 2 will investigate how these Argonaute pathways interact to mediate genome-wide transcriptional surveillance. And finally, Aim 3 will use genetic screens to identify new genes required for RNAi and the related RNAe, RNAa, and newly identified "intronless-silencing" pathways. The ability to combine classical genetics with technology, including deep-sequencing, facile CRlSPR-mediated genome editing, and proteomics, make C. elegans an ideal system for these studies. The mechanisms and protein families that mediate RNAi are highly conserved in animals and therefore insights from the proposed studies will be directly relevant to human biology and disease. These studies will shed light on an ancient gene-regulatory mechanism whose correlates in humans are likely to play important conserved roles in the protection of the human genome and the maintenance of stem cells.