植物微小RNA跨界调控机制及其应用研究进展

微小RNA (microRNA, miRNA)是在多种真核细胞及病毒中发现的一类参与基因表达调控的非编码单链RNA。近期研究表明,植物来源的miRNA可以稳定地存在于动物的血液与组织器官中,并参与调控多种靶蛋白的表达而发挥作用。本文拟从植物miRNA跨界调控的研究现状出发,梳理植物miRNA发挥跨界调控功能的机制,并对其在中药miRNA活性成分的挖掘、小核酸药物开发、以植物为载体的药物开发等应用前景进行综述,有利于加深对植物miRNA跨界调控的认识以及对药用植物作用机制和生物学功能的理解,为开发预防或治疗人类疾病的新方法提供思路。

Advances in mechanism and application for plant microRNA in cross-kingdom regulation

MicroRNAs(miRNAs)are a class of non-coding single-stranded RNAs involved in the regulation of gene expression found in a wide variety of eukaryotic cells and viruses.Recent studies have shown that some plant-derived miRNAs,which can stably exist in blood,tissues,and organs of animals,play a role in regulating the expression of different target proteins.In this review,we intend to sort out the mechanism of plant miRNA regulation based on the current research,and discuss its application prospects in the mining of miRNA active components of traditional Chinese medicine,small nucleic acid drug development,and drug development using plants as carriers.This can be beneficial to deepen the understanding of plant miRNA regulation,as well as the pharmacological mechanism and biological function of medicinal plants,thus providing new ideas for the prevention or treatment therapies towards human diseases.