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Retention And Loss Of Rna Interference Pathways In Trypanosomatid Protozoans, Lon-Fye Lye, Katherine Owens, Huafang Shi, Silvane M. F. Murta, Ana Carolina Vieira, Salvatore J. Turco, Christian Tschudi, Elisabetta Ullu, Stephen M. Beverley

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

RNA interference (RNAi) pathways are widespread in metaozoans but the genes required show variable occurrence or activity in eukaryotic microbes, including many pathogens. While some Leishmania lack RNAi activity and Argonaute or Dicer genes, we show that Leishmania braziliensis and other species within the Leishmania subgenus Viannia elaborate active RNAi machinery. Strong attenuation of expression from a variety of reporter and endogenous genes was seen. As expected, RNAi knockdowns of the sole Argonaute gene implicated this protein in RNAi. The potential for functional genetics was established by testing RNAi knockdown lines lacking the paraflagellar rod, a key component of the …