Laurel (Laurus nobilis L.): A less-known medicinal plant to the world with diffusion, genomics, phenomics, and metabolomics for genetic improvement

Medicinal plants have gained the world’s attention due to their application in various ways. Laurel (Laurus nobilis. L) is a very important medicinal plant of the Mediterranean region. Traditionally this plant has been successfully used in medicine, and its essential oil has great importance. Genomics, breeding, and metabolomics of different crops have remained the main focus of researchers, which made this plant to less known to the world. Most of the researchers only worked about the essential oil and its antibacterial and antioxidant activities. However, still almost no work has been done about the breeding aspects of this important plant. The present review offers an overview about the origin, diffusion, genomics, phenomics, breeding, and metabolomics of laurel. This information would be very helpful for the researchers who are interested in the breeding of this plant. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018

Sequences derived from self-RNA containing certain natural modifications act as suppressors of RNA-mediated inflammatory immune responses

The ability of the host to distinguish between self and foreign nucleic acids is one of the critical factors contributing to the recognition of pathogens by Toll-like receptors (TLRs). Under certain circumstances, eukaryotic self-RNA may reach TLR-containing compartments allowing for self-recognition. Specific modifications were previously demonstrated to suppress immune activation when placed at several positions in an immune stimulatory RNA or silencing RNA (siRNA). However, we show that even a simple natural modification such as a single 2′-O-methylation at different nucleotide positions throughout a sequence derived from a self-RNA strongly interferes with TLR-mediated effects. Such a single modification can even have an inhibitory effect in vitro and in vivo when placed in a different than the immune stimulatory RNA strand acting as suppressive RNA. Several safeguard mechanisms appear to have evolved to avoid cellular TLR-mediated activation by self-RNAs that may under other circumstances result in inflammatory or autoimmune responses. This knowledge can be used to include as few as a single 2′-O-methyl modification at a specific position in a siRNA sense or anti-sense strand to avoid TLR immune effects