PubMed · 2026-02-16
Plants have a molecular alarm system that kicks in when their cells are stressed or damaged, converting faulty genetic messages into silencing signals that shut down harmful genes and boost defenses. This review explains how these signals are made, what controls them, and how they help plants fight disease and environmental stress.
Coding transcript-derived siRNAs (ct-siRNAs) are produced when normal RNA quality-control pathways are disrupted by stress or genetic impairment, linking mRNA surveillance directly to gene silencing.
22-nucleotide ct-siRNA species are especially potent triggers of secondary siRNA amplification, creating a cascading silencing response that can broadly reshape gene expression networks.
ct-siRNA production is non-random, concentrating at specific genomic 'hotspot' loci whose transcripts share distinctive RNA structural features and translational status, suggesting a selective and regulated mechanism.