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Viroids: Non-coding Circular RNAs Are Tiny Pathogens Provoking a Broad Response in Host Plants

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RNA Structure and Function

Part of the book series: RNA Technologies ((RNATECHN,volume 14))

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Abstract

More than 50 years ago, viroids were firstly described as the smallest RNA molecules capable to infect certain plants and to autonomously self-replicate in host plants. Viroids are covalently closed circular single-stranded RNAs that are non-coding and depend for most of their infection cycle on host proteins. Today, viroids are subdivided into the two families Avsunviroidae and Pospiviroidae. Members of Avsunviroidae replicate in the chloroplast and have a highly bifurcated structure including hammerhead ribozymes, which cleave oligomeric replication intermediates into monomers and ligate them to mature circles. Members of Pospiviroidae accumulate in the nucleus, have a rod-like structure and depend on host proteins for cleavage and ligation. We will describe our present knowledge on sequence and structural elements of viroids in connection to their replication and trafficking.

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Acknowledgements

Original work by the authors J. M., D. R., and G. S. was funded for many years by bilateral projects by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Czech Science Foundation (GACR). To all uncited authors, we apologize for not mentioning their work in this review for lack of space.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Physikalische Biologie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40204, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Gerhard Steger, Kevin P. Wüsthoff & Detlev Riesner

  2. Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Plant Molecular Biology, Czech Republic, 37005, Branišovská, Germany

    Jaroslav Matoušek

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  1. Gerhard Steger
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  2. Kevin P. Wüsthoff
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  4. Detlev Riesner
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Correspondence to Gerhard Steger .

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  1. NanoBioMedical Centre of Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland

    Jan Barciszewski

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Steger, G., Wüsthoff, K.P., Matoušek, J., Riesner, D. (2023). Viroids: Non-coding Circular RNAs Are Tiny Pathogens Provoking a Broad Response in Host Plants. In: Barciszewski, J. (eds) RNA Structure and Function. RNA Technologies, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36390-0_14

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