The initiation of RNA interference (RNAi) in plants.

When an mRNA enters into the RNA degradation pathway called RNA interference (RNAi), it is cleaved into small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that then target complementary mRNAs for destruction. The consequence of entry into RNAi is mRNA degradation, post-transcriptional silencing and in some cases transcriptional silencing. RNAi functions as a defense against transposable element and virus activity, and in plants, RNAi additionally plays a role in development by regulating some genes.

The current revolution in transposable element biology enabled by long reads.

Technological advancement in DNA sequencing read-length has drastically changed the quality and completeness of decoded genomes. The aim of this article is not to describe the different technologies of long-read sequencing, or the widely appreciated power of this technology in genome sequencing, assembly, and gene annotation. Instead, in this article, we provide our opinion that with the exception of genome production, transposable element biology is the most radically altered field as a consequence of the advent of long-read sequencing technology.