The Evolutionary Significance of RNAi in the Fungal Kingdom

RNA interference (RNAi) was discovered at the end of last millennium, changing the way scientists understood regulation of gene expression. Within the following two decades, a variety of different RNAi mechanisms were found in eukaryotes, reflecting the evolutive diversity that RNAi entails. The ess...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of molecular sciences 2020-12, Vol.21 (24), p.9348
Main Authors: Lax, Carlos, Tahiri, Ghizlane, Patiño-Medina, José Alberto, Cánovas-Márquez, José T, Pérez-Ruiz, José A, Osorio-Concepción, Macario, Navarro, Eusebio, Calo, Silvia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Argonaute
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Dicer
DNA
DNA methylation
Double-stranded RNA
Drug tolerance
Eukaryotes
Evolution, Molecular
Fungi
Fungi - genetics
Gene expression
Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal
Gene silencing
Genomes
Infections
Organisms
Proteins
Review
Ribonuclease III
RNA Interference
RNA polymerase
RNA silencing
RNA-dependent RNA polymerase
RNA-induced silencing complex
RNA-mediated interference
RNAi
siRNA
Viral infections
Virulence
Viruses
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Summary:RNA interference (RNAi) was discovered at the end of last millennium, changing the way scientists understood regulation of gene expression. Within the following two decades, a variety of different RNAi mechanisms were found in eukaryotes, reflecting the evolutive diversity that RNAi entails. The essential silencing mechanism consists of an RNase III enzyme called Dicer that cleaves double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) generating small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), a hallmark of RNAi. These siRNAs are loaded into the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) triggering the cleavage of complementary messenger RNAs by the Argonaute protein, the main component of the complex. Consequently, the expression of target genes is silenced. This mechanism has been thoroughly studied in fungi due to their proximity to the animal phylum and the conservation of the RNAi mechanism from lower to higher eukaryotes. However, the role and even the presence of RNAi differ across the fungal kingdom, as it has evolved adapting to the particularities and needs of each species. Fungi have exploited RNAi to regulate a variety of cell activities as different as defense against exogenous and potentially harmful DNA, genome integrity, development, drug tolerance, or virulence. This pathway has offered versatility to fungi through evolution, favoring the enormous diversity this kingdom comprises.
ISSN:1422-0067
1661-6596
1422-0067
DOI:10.3390/ijms21249348