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Viroids: the minimal non‐coding RNAs with autonomous replication
Author(s) -
Flores Ricardo,
Delgado Sonia,
Gas Marı́a-Eugenia,
Carbonell Alberto,
Molina Diego,
Gago Selma,
De la Peña Marcos
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2004.03.118
Subject(s) - rna , ribozyme , biology , rna silencing , viroid , hammerhead ribozyme , rolling circle replication , non coding rna , genetics , circular rna , small nucleolar rna , microbiology and biotechnology , dna replication , dna , gene , rna interference
Viroids are small (246–401 nucleotides), non‐coding, circular RNAs able to replicate autonomously in certain plants. Viroids are classified into the families Pospiviroidae and Avsunviroidae , whose members replicate in the nucleus and chloroplast, respectively. Replication occurs by an RNA‐based rolling‐circle mechanism in three steps: (1) synthesis of longer‐than‐unit strands catalyzed by host DNA‐dependent RNA polymerases forced to transcribe RNA templates, (2) processing to unit‐length, which in family Avsunviroidae is mediated by hammerhead ribozymes, and (3) circularization either through an RNA ligase or autocatalytically. Disease induction might result from the accumulation of viroid‐specific small interfering RNAs that, via RNA silencing, could interfere with normal developmental pathways.