Mutual Regulation of RNA Silencing and the IFN Response as an Antiviral Defense System in Mammalian Cells
by
Tomoko Takahashi 1,2,*
and Kumiko Ui-Tei 1,3,*
Tomoko Takahashi 1,2,* and Kumiko Ui-Tei 1,3,*
1
Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
2
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, Saitama 338-8570, Japan
3
Department of Computational Biology and Medical Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Chiba 277-8561, Japan
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21(4), 1348; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21041348
Received: 23 December 2019 / Revised: 14 February 2020 / Accepted: 15 February 2020 / Published: 17 February 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue RNA Regulatory Networks)
RNA silencing is a posttranscriptional gene silencing mechanism directed by endogenous small non-coding RNAs called microRNAs (miRNAs). By contrast, the type-I interferon (IFN) response is an innate immune response induced by exogenous RNAs, such as viral RNAs. Endogenous and exogenous RNAs have typical structural features and are recognized accurately by specific RNA-binding proteins in each pathway. In mammalian cells, both RNA silencing and the IFN response are induced by double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) in the cytoplasm, but have long been considered two independent pathways. However, recent reports have shed light on crosstalk between the two pathways, which are mutually regulated by protein–protein interactions triggered by viral infection. This review provides brief overviews of RNA silencing and the IFN response and an outline of the molecular mechanism of their crosstalk and its biological implications. Crosstalk between RNA silencing and the IFN response may reveal a novel antiviral defense system that is regulated by miRNAs in mammalian cells.
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Keywords:
RNA silencing; microRNA; endogenous RNAs; IFN response; virus; exogenous RNAs; antiviral response; mammalian cells
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Takahashi, T.; Ui-Tei, K. Mutual Regulation of RNA Silencing and the IFN Response as an Antiviral Defense System in Mammalian Cells. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21, 1348.
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