scholarly journals Viroids: unusual small pathogenic RNAs.

2004 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 587-607 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Góra-Sochacka
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Structure ◽  
Hammerhead Ribozyme ◽  
Direct Interaction ◽  
Plant Diseases ◽  
Plant Host ◽  
Rolling Circle ◽  
Rna Molecules ◽  
Viroid Replication ◽  
Plant Genes ◽  
Rolling Circle Mechanism

Viroids are small (about 300 nucleotides), single-stranded, circular, non-encapsidated pathogenic RNA molecules. They do not code for proteins and thus depend on plant host enzymes for their replication and other functions. They induce plant diseases by direct interaction with host factors but the mechanism of pathogenicity is still unknown. They can alter the expression of selected plant genes important for growth and development. Viroids belong to two families, the Avsunviroidae and the Pospiviroidae. Viroids of the Avsunviroidae family adopt a branched or quasi rod-like secondary structure in their native state. Members of the Pospiviroidae family adopt a rod-like secondary structure. In such native structures five structural/functional domains have been identified: central (C), pathogenicity, variable and two terminal domains. The central conserved region (CCR) within the C domain characterizes viroids of the Pospiviroidae. Specific secondary structures of this region play an important role in viroid replication and processing. Viroids of the Avsunviroidae family lack a CCR but possess self-cleaving properties by forming hammerhead ribozyme structures; they accumulate and replicate in chloroplasts, whereas members of the Pospiviroidae family have a nuclear localization. Viroid replication occurs via a rolling circle mechanism using either a symmetric or asymmetric pathway in three steps, RNA transcription, processing and ligation.

Small talk and large impact: the importance of small RNA molecules in the fight against plant diseases.

2021 ◽  
pp. 86-93
Author(s):  
Zhen Liao ◽  
Kristian Persson Hodén ◽  
Christina Dixelius
Keyword(s):  
Small Rnas ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Pathogenic Fungi ◽  
Plant Diseases ◽  
Communication Process ◽  
Plant Host ◽  
Small Talk ◽  
Rna Molecules ◽  
General Chapter ◽  
Late Blight Pathogen

Abstract This short and general chapter summarizes how plants and pathogens communicate using not only proteins for recognition and signal transduction or other metabolites but also RNA molecules where small RNAs with sizes between 21 to 40 nt are most important. These small RNAs can move between plants and a range of interacting pathogenic organisms in both directions, that is, a 'cross-kingdom' communication process. The first reports on RNA-based communications between plants and plant pathogenic fungi appeared about 10 years ago. Since that time, we have learnt much about sRNA biology in plants and their function in different parasitic organisms. However, many questions on the processes involved remain unanswered. Such information is crucial in order to sustain high crop production. Besides giving a brief background, we highlight the interactions between the potato late blight pathogen and its plant host potato.

RNA Structure Analysis: A Multifaceted Approach

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce A. Shapiro ◽  
Wojciech Kasprzak
Keyword(s):  
Nucleic Acid ◽  
Secondary Structure ◽  
Tertiary Structure ◽  
Hammerhead Ribozyme ◽  
3D Structure ◽  
Computer Prediction ◽  
Rna Molecules ◽  
Tertiary Interactions ◽  
The One ◽  
Secondary And Tertiary Structure

Genomic information (nucleic acid and amino acid sequences) completely determines the characteristics of the nucleic acid and protein molecules that express a living organism’s function. One of the greatest challenges in which computation is playing a role is the prediction of higher order structure from the one-dimensional sequence of genes. Rules for determining macromolecule folding have been continually evolving. Specifically in the case of RNA (ribonucleic acid) there are rules and computer algorithms/systems (see below) that partially predict and can help analyze the secondary and tertiary interactions of distant parts of the polymer chain. These successes are very important for determining the structural and functional characteristics of RNA in disease processes and hi the cell life cycle. It has been shown that molecules with the same function have the potential to fold into similar structures though they might differ in their primary sequences. This fact also illustrates the importance of secondary and tertiary structure in relation to function. Examples of such constancy in secondary structure exist in transfer RNAs (tRNAs), 5s RNAs, 16s RNAs, viroid RNAs, and portions of retroviruses such as HIV. The secondary and tertiary structure of tRNA Phe (Kim et al., 1974), of a hammerhead ribozyme (Pley et al., 1994), and of Tetrahymena (Cate et al., 1996a, 1996b) have been shown by their crystal structure. Currently little is known of tertiary interactions, but studies on tRNA indicate these are weaker than secondary structure interactions (Riesner and Romer, 1973; Crothers and Cole, 1978; Jaeger et al., 1989b). It is very difficult to crystallize and/or get nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum data for large RNA molecules. Therefore, a logical place to start in determining the 3D structure of RNA is computer prediction of the secondary structure. The sequence (primary structure) of an RNA molecule is relatively easy to produce. Because experimental methods for determining RNA secondary and tertiary structure (when the primary sequence folds back on itself and forms base pairs) have not kept pace with the rapid discovery of RNA molecules and their function, use of and methods for computer prediction of secondary and tertiary structures have increasingly been developed.

Small talk and large impact: the importance of small RNA molecules in the fight against plant diseases.

2021 ◽  
pp. 86-93
Author(s):  
Zhen Liao ◽  
Kristian Persson Hodén ◽  
Christina Dixelius
Keyword(s):  
Small Rnas ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Pathogenic Fungi ◽  
Plant Diseases ◽  
Communication Process ◽  
Plant Host ◽  
Small Talk ◽  
Rna Molecules ◽  
General Chapter ◽  
Late Blight Pathogen

Abstract This short and general chapter summarizes how plants and pathogens communicate using not only proteins for recognition and signal transduction or other metabolites but also RNA molecules where small RNAs with sizes between 21 to 40 nt are most important. These small RNAs can move between plants and a range of interacting pathogenic organisms in both directions, that is, a 'cross-kingdom' communication process. The first reports on RNA-based communications between plants and plant pathogenic fungi appeared about 10 years ago. Since that time, we have learnt much about sRNA biology in plants and their function in different parasitic organisms. However, many questions on the processes involved remain unanswered. Such information is crucial in order to sustain high crop production. Besides giving a brief background, we highlight the interactions between the potato late blight pathogen and its plant host potato.

Viroids with Hammerhead Ribozymes: Some Unique Structural and Functional Aspects with Respect to Other Members of the Group

1999 ◽  
Vol 380 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 849-854 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Flores ◽  
J.-A. Navarro ◽  
M. de la Peña ◽  
B. Navarro ◽  
S. Ambrós ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Structure ◽  
Rna Polymerase ◽  
Circular Rna ◽  
Hammerhead Ribozymes ◽  
Rolling Circle ◽  
Rna Ligase ◽  
Functional Aspects ◽  
Chlorotic Mottle ◽  
Pathogenicity Determinant ◽  
Rolling Circle Mechanism

AbstractViroids, subviral pathogens of plants, are composed of a single-stranded circular RNA of 246–399 nucleotides. Within the 27 viroids sequenced, avocado sunblotch, peach latent mosaic and chrysanthemum chlorotic mottle viroids (ASBVd, PLMVd and CChMVd, respectively) can form hammerhead structures in both of their polarity strands. These ribozymes mediate self-cleavage of the oligomeric RNAs generated in the replication through a rolling circle mechanism, whose two other steps are catalyzed by an RNA polymerase and an RNA ligase. ASBVd, and presumably PLMVd and CChMVd, replicate and accumulate in the chloroplast, whereas typical viroids replicate and accumulate in the nucleus. PLMVd and CChMVd do not adopt a rod-like or quasi rod-like secondary structure as typical viroids do but have a highly branched conformation. A pathogenicity determinant has been mapped in a defined region of the CChMVd molecule.

scholarly journals Viroids and Viroid-like Circular RNAs: Do They Descend from Primordial Replicators?

Life ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
Benjamin D. Lee ◽  
Eugene V. Koonin
Keyword(s):  
Plant Pathogens ◽  
Rna World ◽  
Unit Length ◽  
Circular Rna ◽  
Circular Rnas ◽  
Rolling Circle ◽  
Rna Molecules ◽  
Evolution Of Life ◽  
Rolling Circle Mechanism ◽  
Viral Nucleocapsid

Viroids are a unique class of plant pathogens that consist of small circular RNA molecules, between 220 and 450 nucleotides in size. Viroids encode no proteins and are the smallest known infectious agents. Viroids replicate via the rolling circle mechanism, producing multimeric intermediates which are cleaved to unit length either by ribozymes formed from both polarities of the viroid genomic RNA or by coopted host RNAses. Many viroid-like small circular RNAs are satellites of plant RNA viruses. Ribozyviruses, represented by human hepatitis delta virus, are larger viroid-like circular RNAs that additionally encode the viral nucleocapsid protein. It has been proposed that viroids are direct descendants of primordial RNA replicons that were present in the hypothetical RNA world. We argue, however, that much later origin of viroids, possibly, from recently discovered mobile genetic elements known as retrozymes, is a far more parsimonious evolutionary scenario. Nevertheless, viroids and viroid-like circular RNAs are minimal replicators that are likely to be close to the theoretical lower limit of replicator size and arguably comprise the paradigm for replicator emergence. Thus, although viroid-like replicators are unlikely to be direct descendants of primordial RNA replicators, the study of the diversity and evolution of these ultimate genetic parasites can yield insights into the earliest stages of the evolution of life.

scholarly journals Structural relation matching: an algorithm to identify structural patterns into RNAs and their interactions

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michela Quadrini
Keyword(s):  
Hydrogen Bonding ◽  
Secondary Structure ◽  
Nucleotide Sequence ◽  
Thermus Thermophilus ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Secondary Structures ◽  
Structural Effect ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Structural Pattern ◽  
Rna Molecules

Abstract RNA molecules play crucial roles in various biological processes. Their three-dimensional configurations determine the functions and, in turn, influences the interaction with other molecules. RNAs and their interaction structures, the so-called RNA–RNA interactions, can be abstracted in terms of secondary structures, i.e., a list of the nucleotide bases paired by hydrogen bonding within its nucleotide sequence. Each secondary structure, in turn, can be abstracted into cores and shadows. Both are determined by collapsing nucleotides and arcs properly. We formalize all of these abstractions as arc diagrams, whose arcs determine loops. A secondary structure, represented by an arc diagram, is pseudoknot-free if its arc diagram does not present any crossing among arcs otherwise, it is said pseudoknotted. In this study, we face the problem of identifying a given structural pattern into secondary structures or the associated cores or shadow of both RNAs and RNA–RNA interactions, characterized by arbitrary pseudoknots. These abstractions are mapped into a matrix, whose elements represent the relations among loops. Therefore, we face the problem of taking advantage of matrices and submatrices. The algorithms, implemented in Python, work in polynomial time. We test our approach on a set of 16S ribosomal RNAs with inhibitors of Thermus thermophilus, and we quantify the structural effect of the inhibitors.

scholarly journals Natural 2′,5′-Phosphodiester Bonds Found at the Ligation Sites of Peach Latent Mosaic Viroid

2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabien Côté ◽  
Dominique Lévesque ◽  
Jean-Pierre Perreault
Keyword(s):  
Circular Rna ◽  
Rolling Circle ◽  
Phosphodiester Bonds ◽  
Biological Importance ◽  
Rolling Circle Mechanism ◽  
Ligation Site

ABSTRACT Peach latent mosaic viroid (PLMVd) is a circular RNA pathogen that replicates in a DNA-independent fashion via a rolling circle mechanism. PLMVd has been shown to self-ligate in vitro primarily via the formation of 2′,5′-phosphodiester bonds; however, in vivo the occurrence and necessity of this nonenzymatic mechanism are not evident. Here, we unequivocally report the presence of 2′,5′-phosphodiester bonds at the ligation site of circular PLMVd strands isolated from infected peach leaves. These bonds serve to close the linear conformers (i.e., intermediates), yielding circular ones. Furthermore, these bonds are shown to stabilize the replicational circular templates, resulting in a significant advantage in terms of viroid viability. Although the mechanism responsible for the formation of these 2′,5′-phosphodiester bonds remains to be elucidated, a hypothesis describing in vivo nonenzymatic self-ligation is proposed. Most significantly, our results clearly show that 2′,5′-phosphodiester bonds are still present in nature and that they are of biological importance.

scholarly journals A method for RNA structure prediction shows evidence for structure in lncRNAs

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Delli ponti ◽  
Alexandros Armaos ◽  
Stefanie Marti ◽  
Gian Gaetano Tartaglia
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Structure ◽  
Rna Structure ◽  
Structure Prediction ◽  
Sequence Information ◽  
Time Warping ◽  
Single Nucleotide ◽  
Rna Molecules ◽  
Rna Structure Prediction ◽  
Dynamic Time ◽  
Nucleotide Resolution

AbstractTo compare the secondary structures of RNA molecules we developed the CROSSalign method. CROSSalign is based on the combination of the Computational Recognition Of Secondary Structure (CROSS) algorithm to predict the RNA secondary structure at single-nucleotide resolution using sequence information, and the Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) method to align profiles of different lengths. We applied CROSSalign to investigate the structural conservation of long non-coding RNAs such as XIST and HOTAIR as well as ssRNA viruses including HIV. In a pool of sequences with the same secondary structure CROSSalign accurately recognizes repeat A of XIST and domain D2 of HOTAIR and outperforms other methods based on covariance modelling. CROSSalign can be applied to perform pair-wise comparisons and is able to find homologues between thousands of matches identifying the exact regions of similarity between profiles of different lengths. The algorithm is freely available at the webpage http://service.tartaglialab.com//new_submission/CROSSalign.

scholarly journals Dual RNA-seq reveals large-scale non-conserved genotype x genotype specific genetic reprograming and molecular crosstalk in the mycorrhizal symbiosis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan D. Mateus ◽  
Frédéric G. Masclaux ◽  
Consolée Aletti ◽  
Edward C. Rojas ◽  
Romain Savary ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽  
Mycorrhizal Symbiosis ◽  
Rna Seq ◽  
Plant Host ◽  
Transcriptional Responses ◽  
Plant Genes ◽  
Fungal Genetic

AbstractArbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) impact plant growth and are a major driver of plant diversity and productivity. We quantified the contribution of intra-specific genetic variability in cassava (Manihot esculenta) and Rhizophagus irregularis to gene reprogramming in symbioses using dual RNA-sequencing. A large number of cassava genes exhibited altered transcriptional responses to the fungus but transcription of most of these plant genes (72%) responded in a different direction or magnitude depending on the plant genotype. Two AMF isolates displayed large differences in their transcription, but the direction and magnitude of the transcriptional responses for a large number of these genes was also strongly influenced by the genotype of the plant host. This indicates that unlike the highly conserved plant genes necessary for the symbiosis establishment, plant and fungal gene transcriptional responses are not conserved and are greatly influenced by plant and fungal genetic differences, even at the within-species level. The transcriptional variability detected allowed us to identify an extensive gene network showing the interplay in plant-fungal reprogramming in the symbiosis. Key genes illustrated that the two organisms jointly program their cytoskeleton organisation during growth of the fungus inside roots. Our study reveals that plant and fungal genetic variation plays a strong role in shaping the genetic reprograming in response to symbiosis, indicating considerable genotype x genotype interactions in the mycorrhizal symbiosis. Such variation needs to be considered in order to understand the molecular mechanisms between AMF and their plant hosts in natural communities.

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