Gene Silencing RNAi Technology: Uses in Plants

Ensuring sustainable food production in national and global area depends on the determination of plant species and varieties that can survive under the influence of various stress factors that may occur due to global climate changes and other factors that adversely limit growth and development, and depends on the protection and development of existing ones. It is important to develop new plant varieties that are resistant to abiotic stress factors that have occurred as a result of global climate changes. At this point, modern biotechnological methods have been widely needed in plant breeding in recent years. One of these techniques is RNAi technology. The mechanism of RNA interference (RNAi) is defined as post-transcriptional gene silencing or regulation of gene expression, resulting in the degradation of mRNA chain, which is the complement of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) entering the cell. RNA interference begins when double-stranded RNA is cut into small inhibitory RNAs (siRNA) by an RNase III enzyme called as Dicer. These siRNAs then bind to the RNA-inducing silencing complex (RISC) which is a multiprotein-RNA nuclease complex. RISC uses siRNAs to find complementary mRNA and cuts the target mRNA endonucleolytically. The resulting decrease in specific mRNA leads to a decrease in available protein(s). Post transcriptional gene silencing, RNA interference and other forms of RNA silencing have been observed particularly in plants. In recent years, RNAi studies, which are among the leading topics in the global area, have shown that non-coding RNAs in plants play a role in the control of tissue differentiation and development, signal transmission, interaction with phytohormones, abiotic (drought, salinity, etc.) and environmental factors such as biotic stress. In this review paper, the basics of RNAi mechanism and the usage of RNAi in plants are explained.