PRANAV CHETTRI, P.U. KRISHNARAJ AND M. S. KURUVINASHETTI
Abstract
PTGS is a form of nucleic-acid-based immunity, targeting viruses and genomic repeated sequences. First documented in plants and invertebrate animals, this host defense has recently been identified in mammals. The differences in the experimental system used to study this phenomenon have resulted in several terms often describing similar processes. PTGS is viewed as a conserved ancient mechanism protecting genomes from nucleic acid invaders. It has been made possible to artificially induce PTGS in various systems by introducing constructs that produce double stranded mRNA in the system and the same strategy has been used widely in functional genomics and genetic engineering.