Progress in the Emerging Areas of RNA Biology and Implications in Life Sciences

Recent advances in transriptomics such as Next gen sequencing and the discovery of novel mechanisms for control of gene expression such as microRNAs, RNAi and riboswitches gave a better insight on the complexity of the RNA function within the cell but also provides us with bigger opportunities for applying novel RNA-based engineering strategies in health care, agriculture and clinical diagnostics. Undestanding RNA biology in medical genomics offered new exciting opportunities for the development of novel therapeutic strategies in tackling various forms of cancer, viral infection diseases, deployment of novel antibiotics, and others. Likewise RNAi substantially contributed to crop improvement in obtaining improved cultivars with desirable traits such as biotic stress tolerance, toxin free plant types, seedless fruits, male sterile lines, delayed ripening of fruits, enhanced nutritional content, removal of secondary metabolites and altered floral characteristics.