Trans-kingdom Cross-Talk: Small RNAs on the Move

Knip, Marijn; Constantin, Maria E.; Thordal‐Christensen, Hans

doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1004602

Cited by 146 publications

(127 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…While there are clear examples of trans-kingdom communication via RNA intermediates in a natural context, e.g. between humans and some of their parasites, and between plants and fungi, 27 it is odd that no natural context has yet been discovered for C. elegans, where RNAi by feeding is such a powerful tool. Some recent experiments by Melo and Ruvkun may provide a conceptual bridge between artificial and natural RNAi by feeding.…”

Section: From Artificial To Natural Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artificial and natural RNA interactions between bacteria andC. elegans

2017

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Section: From Artificial To Natural Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artificial and natural RNA interactions between bacteria andC. elegans

2017

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“…These RNA functions may be extremely ancient, as RNA molecules are involved in quorum sensing, a phenomenon of sociality among bacteria, that can reach a high level of regulation, including cheating and high competition (35,36). If extracellular RNA-based communication arose even before the origin of the eukaryotic cell, then we can hypothesize that it is a widespread biological process, a powerful and universal code that allows one organism/cell to influence the behavior of others (37).…”

Section: Traveler Rna: a Universal Living Languagementioning

confidence: 99%

Extracellular RNAs: A Secret Arm of Immune System Regulation

Candia

Rosa

Casiraghi

et al. 2016

Journal of Biological Chemistry

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The immune system has evolved to protect multicellular organisms from the attack of a variety of pathogens. To exert this function efficiently, the system has developed the capacity to coordinate the function of different cell types and the ability to down-modulate the response when the foreign attack is over. For decades, immunologists believed that these two characteristics were primarily related to cytokine/chemokine-based communication and cell-to-cell direct contact. More recently, it has been shown that Cell-free Nucleic Acids: A Historical PerspectiveThe first description of extracellular nucleic acids in the blood of healthy and sick individuals goes back to observations published by Mandel and Metais in 1948 (1). After this first study, a series of research groups described both DNA and RNA circulating as extracellular molecules in the body. These molecules were considered as potential biomarkers mainly in cancer and for prenatal diagnosis (2, 3). More recently, microRNAs (miRNAs), 3 small RNA molecules (18 -25 nucleotides), which in their mature single-stranded forms act as post-transcriptional repressors through pairing with messenger RNAs (4), have been shown to circulate in human blood associated with either vesicles or protein complexes that protect them from degradation (5-7). In the last 7 years, blood-circulating miRNAs have become the most promising clinical biomarkers for the diagnosis, prognosis, and therapeutic options of a variety of pathological conditions such as cancer (8 -10), cardiovascular disorders (11, 12), diabetes (13), and liver diseases (14, 15), among others (16). Although cell-free nucleic acids have the potential to revolutionize medical diagnostics, the biological significance of these molecules in the extracellular environment still remains elusive. RNA release can be a passive phenomenon that results from tissue damage, or an active secretory process of healthy cells. Hence, is RNA simply discarded by cells as waste, or does it have a role in cell-to-cell communication? Or both?In immunology, transfer of immunity by RNA was first described more than 40 years ago (17). Moreover, RNA extracted from the thymus was shown to induce maturation and expression of a T cell-specific antigen in bone marrow lymphocytes (18) and to activate the proliferation of bone marrow plasma cells in vitro (19). Then, it was first proposed that an analogous mechanism in cell maturation in vivo might involve RNA release by thymus cells. In the mid-70s, lymphocytes were shown to release double-stranded DNA in complex with low molecular weight RNA. The information carried by extracellular nucleic acids could be transferred from one cell type to another in the course of an immune response (20 -22). The capability to communicate through RNA molecules is possibly very old and universally distributed in living organisms. Traveler RNA: A Universal Living LanguageThe hypothesis of the so-called "RNA world" suggests that RNA was the first nucleic acid in primordial cells ϳ3.8 billion years ago (23, 24) and...

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“…Given that RNAi activity is based on the pairing between sRNA and mRNA, not only the target gene, but also off-target genes that produce mRNA with sufficient nucleotide sequence complementarity to the sRNA could be silenced [5]. Owing to the conserved nature of RNAi [6], target and off-target genes could be silenced in both the RNAi-based GM plant and organisms consuming and/or infecting that plant. These organisms include target pests, in the case of host-delivered RNAi, and nontarget organisms (NTOs).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%