RNAi-mediated resistance to viruses in genetically engineered plants

Abstract

RNA interference (RNAi) has emerged as a leading technology in designing genetically modified crops engineered to resist viral infection. The last decades have seen the development of a large number of crops whose inherent posttranscriptional gene silencing mechanism has been exploited to target essential viral genes through the production of dsRNA that triggers an endogenous RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), leading to gene silencing in susceptible viruses conferring them with resistance even before the onset of infection. Selection and breeding events have allowed for establishing this highly important agronomic trait in diverse crops. With improved techniques and the availability of new data on genetic diversity among several viruses, significant progress is being made in engineering plants using RNAi with the release of a number of commercially available crops. Biosafety concerns with respect to consumption of RNAi crops, while relevant, have been addressed, given the fact that experimental evidence using miRNAs associated with the crops shows that they do not pose any health risk to humans and animals.