Rapid progress in molecular biology reveals the role of small-molecule nucleic acid-based players, which are involved in the regulation of genome organization and gene expression in complex organisms. Knocking down the expression of specific genes represents an interesting technique of therapy and a means of scrutinizing molecular functions. The use of nucleic acids in therapeutics has advanced significantly in the last years and a huge number of genes and methods comprising naturally and synthetic molecules have been applied for in vitro and in vivo approaches. DNAzymes, siRNA, antisense oligonucleotides, decoys, ribozymes and aptamers are the main players, which interfere with cytosolic mRNAs or translated protein. However, gene silencing strategies in plants remain scarce and they will be the focus of this Mini review.
展开▼
