Cross-kingdom small RNA communication between plants and fungal phytopathogens-recent updates and prospects for future agriculture

Small RNAs (sRNAs) are short non-coding regulatory RNA sequences that silence the complementary expressive transcripts through an endogenous RNA mediated interference mechanism (RNAi). These sRNAs typically move through plasmodesmata and phloem in plants to support disease resistance, and also through septal pores and vesicles in fungi to act as effector of pathogenicity. Notably, recent reports have shown the occurrence of a bidirectional trafficking of these sRNAs between the host plants and the attacking fungal phytopathogen which have significant implication in the nature of the infection. While the trans-species sRNAs from the pathogen can silence the host mRNAs and inhibit the host immunity genes, the sRNA modules from the host plants can silence the mRNA in the pathogen by impeding the expression of the pathogenicity-related genes. In the present review, we discuss the current state of sRNA trafficking between the plant and the pathogen with special emphasis on the mechanism of cross-kingdom communication which could contribute to the development of pathogen and pest control in future agriculture.