Advances in Animal and Veterinary Sciences
RNA Interference in Parasites; Prospects and Pitfalls
Naduvanahalli Rajanna Sudhakar1, Haranahalli Vasanthachar Manjunathachar1*, Kumaragurubaran Karthik2, Shivani Sahu3, Marappan Gopi4, Sanganagouda Biradar Shantaveer5, Doddhadasarahalla Nanjappa Madhu6, Prem Sagar Maurya1, Keresara Hariyappa Nagaraja7, Santhosh Shinde8, Paramasivam Tamilmahan6
1Division of Parasitology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, India.; 2Division of Bacteriology and Mycology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, India; 3Veterinary officer, Dehra dun; 4Division of Animal Nutrition Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, India; .5Veterinary officer, Karanataka; 6Division of Veterinary Surgery and Radiology; 7Division of Veterinary Public Health, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, India; 8Division of Veterinary Obstetrics and Gynecology Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, India.
*Corresponding author: manjunathachar632@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Parasites comprise of helminthes, protozoa and arthropods which are the most complex and well adopted organisms in the host causing chronic illness in the animals resulting in considerable economic losses in the form of decreased production and loss of condition. Until today the effective control of these organisms is not possible due to the emergence of antiparasitic drugs resistance and availability of very few successful vaccines against them. By the advent of the RNA interference (RNAi) technique in late 19th century it was hoped that dream of effective control of parasites were made possible. However, after 10–15 years of RNAi research the fruitful results are still awaited. The RNAi is a process of introduction of double–stranded RNA (dsRNA) into some cells or organisms, resulting in degradation of its homologous mRNA. The dsRNAs are processed into short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that subsequently bind to the RNA–induced silencing complex (RISC), causing degradation of target mRNAs. The sequence–specific ability of RNAi to silence target genes has been extensively used to study gene functions and to control disease pathogens and vectors. Thus, RNAi can help us to enlighten better about the gene functions in parasites, for targeted drug delivery against specific helminthes and finding the vaccine candidates, and reducing the role of vectors to transmit diseases. In this review, we provide the state of art information on RNAi phenomenon applied in the parasites, the prospects and possible pitfalls of this technique. Moreover, the factors required to obtain optimum results are discussed.
Key Words: Parasites, RNAi, Gene functions
