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Viroids: self‐replicating, mobile, and fast‐evolving noncoding regulatory RNAs
Author(s) -
Ding Biao
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
wiley interdisciplinary reviews: rna
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.225
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1757-7012
pISSN - 1757-7004
DOI - 10.1002/wrna.22
Subject(s) - viroid , biology , rna , replicon , long non coding rna , genetics , non coding rna , computational biology , virology , gene , genome
Viroids are small, circular, and noncoding RNAs that infect plants. They replicate in the nucleus or chloroplast and then traffic from cell to cell and from organ to organ to establish systemic infection. Viroids achieve nearly all of the biological functions by directly interacting with host cellular factors. Viroid replication, together with replication of human hepatitis delta virus, demonstrates the biological novelty and significance of RNA‐dependent RNA polymerase activities of DNA‐dependent RNA polymerases. Viroid systemic infection uncovers a new biological principle—the role of three‐dimensional RNA structural motifs mediating RNA trafficking between specific cells. Viroid diseases are virtually the consequences of host gene regulation by noncoding RNAs. A viroid RNA has the highest in vivo mutation rate among all known nucleic acid replicons. The host range of many viroids is expanding, essentially as a result of continuing and fast evolution of noncoding sequences/structures to gain new biological functions. Here, I discuss recent progress in these areas, emphasizing the broad significance of viroid research to the discovery of fundamental biological principles. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This article is categorized under: Regulatory RNAs/RNAi/Riboswitches > Regulatory RNAs RNA in Disease and Development > RNA in Disease RNA in Disease and Development > RNA in Development