{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,5]],"date-time":"2026-01-05T21:21:29Z","timestamp":1767648089387,"version":"3.48.0"},"reference-count":82,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,5]],"date-time":"2026-01-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767571200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010663","name":"H2020 European Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["863809"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["863809"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010663","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosbiology.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS Biol"],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    RNA interference (RNAi) is a sequence-specific mRNA degradation mechanism, in which short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) guide Argonaute proteins to complementary targets, resulting in their degradation. In many organisms, RNAi also serves antiviral roles by processing viral double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) into siRNAs that prevent viral replication. Antiviral RNAi is considered an ancestral mechanism which invertebrates rely on for defense against viruses, whereas vertebrates have evolved instead the interferon pathway. Recent studies suggest that sea anemones, members of the basally-branching phylum Cnidaria, might possess an innate immune response with more vertebrate characteristics than previously thought; however, it is unknown whether cnidarians also employ RNAi as an antiviral response similarly to nematodes and insects. Here, we characterize the response of the model cnidarian\n                    <jats:italic>Nematostella vectensis<\/jats:italic>\n                    to simulated viral infection. We injected dsRNA with eGFP sequence into eGFP-expressing transgenic zygotes and show that siRNAs mapping to the eGFP sequence are generated and induce a moderate but significant knockdown of eGFP expression. Interestingly, we detected no evidence for secondary siRNA production, despite their crucial role in the amplification of antiviral response in other organisms. Notably, siRNA pathway components are specifically upregulated upon dsRNA injection, while microRNA pathway components are downregulated. Furthermore, injection of mRNA coding for self-replicating viral gene fused to eGFP, also induced upregulation of siRNA-related genes and a mild decrease in transgene expression. Overall, we propose that\n                    <jats:italic>N. vectensis<\/jats:italic>\n                    possesses an siRNA-mediated response that lacks secondary amplification and likely functions as a short-term antiviral mechanism.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pbio.3003589","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,5]],"date-time":"2026-01-05T19:19:01Z","timestamp":1767640741000},"page":"e3003589","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pbio.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Characterization of RNA interference in the cnidarian Nematostella vectensis reveals partial target silencing but lack of small RNA amplification"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"24","author":[{"given":"Yael","family":"Admoni","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Magda","family":"Lewandowska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Reuven","family":"Aharoni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Junchao","family":"Shi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xudong","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Qi","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9928-9294","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Yehu","family":"Moran","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,5]]},"reference":[{"issue":"18","key":"pbio.3003589.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cub.2007.07.014","article-title":"Small silencing RNAs","volume":"17","author":"C Matranga","year":"2007","journal-title":"Curr Biol"},{"key":"pbio.3003589.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"217","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-biophys-083012-130404","article-title":"Molecular mechanisms of RNA interference","volume":"42","author":"RC Wilson","year":"2013","journal-title":"Annu Rev Biophys"},{"issue":"1","key":"pbio.3003589.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"109","DOI":"10.1016\/j.virusres.2004.01.021","article-title":"RNA silencing: a conserved antiviral immunity of plants and animals","volume":"102","author":"S-W Ding","year":"2004","journal-title":"Virus Res"},{"issue":"2","key":"pbio.3003589.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"81","DOI":"10.1007\/s00294-006-0078-x","article-title":"On the origin and functions of RNA-mediated silencing: from protists to man","volume":"50","author":"H Cerutti","year":"2006","journal-title":"Curr Genet"},{"key":"pbio.3003589.ref005","first-page":"183","article-title":"RNA interference-mediated intrinsic antiviral immunity in invertebrates","volume":"371","author":"A Nayak","year":"2013","journal-title":"Curr Top Microbiol Immunol"},{"issue":"3","key":"pbio.3003589.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"373","DOI":"10.1016\/j.immuni.2006.08.007","article-title":"Type I interferons in host defense","volume":"25","author":"DB Stetson","year":"2006","journal-title":"Immunity"},{"issue":"1","key":"pbio.3003589.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"36","DOI":"10.1038\/nri3581","article-title":"Regulation of type I interferon responses","volume":"14","author":"LB Ivashkiv","year":"2014","journal-title":"Nat Rev Immunol"},{"issue":"4","key":"pbio.3003589.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"807","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cell.2013.10.001","article-title":"A retrotransposon-driven dicer isoform directs endogenous small interfering RNA production in mouse oocytes","volume":"155","author":"M Flemr","year":"2013","journal-title":"Cell"},{"issue":"6551","key":"pbio.3003589.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"231","DOI":"10.1126\/science.abg2264","article-title":"An isoform of Dicer protects mammalian stem cells against multiple RNA viruses","volume":"373","author":"EZ Poirier","year":"2021","journal-title":"Science"},{"issue":"1","key":"pbio.3003589.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"25","DOI":"10.1016\/S0092-8674(00)80620-0","article-title":"RNAi: double-stranded RNA directs the ATP-dependent cleavage of mRNA at 21 to 23 nucleotide intervals","volume":"101","author":"PD Zamore","year":"2000","journal-title":"Cell"},{"issue":"6818","key":"pbio.3003589.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"363","DOI":"10.1038\/35053110","article-title":"Role for a bidentate ribonuclease in the initiation step of RNA interference","volume":"409","author":"E Bernstein","year":"2001","journal-title":"Nature"},{"issue":"2","key":"pbio.3003589.ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"188","DOI":"10.1101\/gad.862301","article-title":"RNA interference is mediated by 21- and 22-nucleotide RNAs","volume":"15","author":"SM Elbashir","year":"2001","journal-title":"Genes Dev"},{"issue":"5532","key":"pbio.3003589.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1146","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1064023","article-title":"Argonaute2, a link between genetic and biochemical analyses of RNAi","volume":"293","author":"SM Hammond","year":"2001","journal-title":"Science"},{"issue":"4","key":"pbio.3003589.ref014","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"857","DOI":"10.1105\/tpc.010480","article-title":"Spreading of RNA targeting and DNA methylation in RNA silencing requires transcription of the target gene and a putative RNA-dependent RNA polymerase","volume":"14","author":"FE Vaistij","year":"2002","journal-title":"Plant Cell"},{"issue":"2","key":"pbio.3003589.ref015","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"481","DOI":"10.1105\/tpc.109.073056","article-title":"Arabidopsis RNA-dependent RNA polymerases and dicer-like proteins in antiviral defense and small interfering RNA biogenesis during Turnip Mosaic Virus infection","volume":"22","author":"H Garcia-Ruiz","year":"2010","journal-title":"Plant Cell"},{"key":"pbio.3003589.ref016","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1199\/tab.0146","article-title":"The functions of RNA-dependent RNA polymerases in Arabidopsis","volume":"9","author":"MR Willmann","year":"2011","journal-title":"Arabidopsis Book"},{"key":"pbio.3003589.ref017","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12410","DOI":"10.1038\/ncomms12410","article-title":"Virus-derived DNA drives mosquito vector tolerance to arboviral infection","volume":"7","author":"B Goic","year":"2016","journal-title":"Nat Commun"},{"issue":"2","key":"pbio.3003589.ref018","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cell.2017.03.033","article-title":"Circulating immune cells mediate a systemic RNAi-based adaptive antiviral response in Drosophila","volume":"169","author":"M Tassetto","year":"2017","journal-title":"Cell"},{"issue":"5809","key":"pbio.3003589.ref019","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"241","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1132839","article-title":"Distinct populations of primary and secondary effectors during RNAi in C. elegans","volume":"315","author":"J Pak","year":"2007","journal-title":"Science"},{"issue":"4","key":"pbio.3003589.ref020","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"885","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cell.2012.10.022","article-title":"Protection from feed-forward amplification in an amplified RNAi mechanism","volume":"151","author":"J Pak","year":"2012","journal-title":"Cell"},{"issue":"1","key":"pbio.3003589.ref021","article-title":"Natural and experimental infection of Caenorhabditis nematodes by novel viruses related to nodaviruses","volume":"9","author":"M-A F\u00e9lix","year":"2011","journal-title":"PLoS Biol"},{"key":"pbio.3003589.ref022","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7554\/eLife.00994","article-title":"A deletion polymorphism in the Caenorhabditis elegans RIG-I homolog disables viral RNA dicing and antiviral immunity","volume":"2","author":"A Ashe","year":"2013","journal-title":"eLife"},{"issue":"3","key":"pbio.3003589.ref023","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chom.2018.02.001","article-title":"Dicer-2-dependent generation of viral DNA from defective genomes of RNA viruses modulates antiviral immunity in insects","volume":"23","author":"EZ Poirier","year":"2018","journal-title":"Cell Host Microbe"},{"issue":"8","key":"pbio.3003589.ref024","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1447","DOI":"10.1242\/dev.048959","article-title":"Evolutionary crossroads in developmental biology: Cnidaria","volume":"138","author":"U Technau","year":"2011","journal-title":"Development"},{"issue":"4","key":"pbio.3003589.ref025","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"408","DOI":"10.1002\/wdev.222","article-title":"The rise of the starlet sea anemone Nematostella vectensis as a model system to investigate development and regeneration","volume":"5","author":"MJ Layden","year":"2016","journal-title":"Wiley Interdiscip Rev Dev Biol"},{"issue":"1","key":"pbio.3003589.ref026","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/s12862-018-1142-0","article-title":"Phylogenomics provides a robust topology of the major cnidarian lineages and insights on the origins of key organismal traits","volume":"18","author":"E Kayal","year":"2018","journal-title":"BMC Evol Biol"},{"issue":"10","key":"pbio.3003589.ref027","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4546","DOI":"10.1093\/molbev\/msab197","article-title":"Functional characterization of the cnidarian antiviral immune response reveals ancestral complexity","volume":"38","author":"M Lewandowska","year":"2021","journal-title":"Mol Biol Evol"},{"issue":"51","key":"pbio.3003589.ref028","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2109022118","article-title":"The cyclic dinucleotide 2\u20193\u2019-cGAMP induces a broad antibacterial and antiviral response in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis","volume":"118","author":"SR Margolis","year":"2021","journal-title":"Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A"},{"issue":"6","key":"pbio.3003589.ref029","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"959","DOI":"10.1016\/j.immuni.2012.03.022","article-title":"Ubiquitin-induced oligomerization of the RNA Sensors RIG-I and MDA5 activates antiviral innate immune response","volume":"36","author":"X Jiang","year":"2012","journal-title":"Immunity"},{"issue":"12","key":"pbio.3003589.ref030","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2541","DOI":"10.1093\/molbev\/mst159","article-title":"The evolution of microRNA pathway protein components in Cnidaria","volume":"30","author":"Y Moran","year":"2013","journal-title":"Mol Biol Evol"},{"issue":"1","key":"pbio.3003589.ref031","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6187","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-020-20003-8","article-title":"Unravelling the developmental and functional significance of an ancient Argonaute duplication","volume":"11","author":"A Fridrich","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nat Commun"},{"issue":"1","key":"pbio.3003589.ref032","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"211","DOI":"10.1006\/dbio.1999.9407","article-title":"Silencing of developmental genes in Hydra","volume":"214","author":"JU Lohmann","year":"1999","journal-title":"Dev Biol"},{"issue":"5","key":"pbio.3003589.ref033","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"846","DOI":"10.1242\/jcs.02807","article-title":"Silencing of the hydra serine protease inhibitor Kazal1 gene mimics the human SPINK1 pancreatic phenotype","volume":"119","author":"S Chera","year":"2006","journal-title":"J Cell Sci"},{"issue":"3","key":"pbio.3003589.ref034","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"250","DOI":"10.2307\/25066607","article-title":"Knockdown of actin and caspase gene expression by RNA interference in the symbiotic anemone Aiptasia pallida","volume":"212","author":"SR Dunn","year":"2007","journal-title":"Biol Bull"},{"issue":"7","key":"pbio.3003589.ref035","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pgen.1007533","article-title":"Metagenomic sequencing suggests a diversity of RNA interference-like responses to viruses across multicellular eukaryotes","volume":"14","author":"FM Waldron","year":"2018","journal-title":"PLoS Genet"},{"issue":"2","key":"pbio.3003589.ref036","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"158","DOI":"10.1002\/bies.201100145","article-title":"Establishing a model organism: a report from the first annual Nematostella meeting","volume":"34","author":"AM Reitzel","year":"2012","journal-title":"Bioessays"},{"issue":"5","key":"pbio.3003589.ref037","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1350","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.0308308100","article-title":"Interferon antagonist proteins of influenza and vaccinia viruses are suppressors of RNA silencing","volume":"101","author":"W-X Li","year":"2004","journal-title":"Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A"},{"issue":"6","key":"pbio.3003589.ref038","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1248","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cell.2011.10.042","article-title":"Transgenerational inheritance of an acquired small RNA-based antiviral response in C. elegans","volume":"147","author":"O Rechavi","year":"2011","journal-title":"Cell"},{"issue":"5571","key":"pbio.3003589.ref039","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1319","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1070948","article-title":"Induction and suppression of RNA silencing by an animal virus","volume":"296","author":"H Li","year":"2002","journal-title":"Science"},{"issue":"6409","key":"pbio.3003589.ref040","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1377","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aar8384","article-title":"An axial Hox code controls tissue segmentation and body patterning in Nematostella vectensis","volume":"361","author":"S He","year":"2018","journal-title":"Science"},{"issue":"4","key":"pbio.3003589.ref041","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"651","DOI":"10.1101\/gr.162503.113","article-title":"Cnidarian microRNAs frequently regulate targets by cleavage","volume":"24","author":"Y Moran","year":"2014","journal-title":"Genome Res"},{"issue":"6155","key":"pbio.3003589.ref042","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"235","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1241930","article-title":"Antiviral RNA interference in mammalian cells","volume":"342","author":"PV Maillard","year":"2013","journal-title":"Science"},{"issue":"1","key":"pbio.3003589.ref043","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.26508\/lsa.201800289","article-title":"Main constraints for RNAi induced by expressed long dsRNA in mouse cells","volume":"2","author":"T Demeter","year":"2019","journal-title":"Life Sci Alliance"},{"issue":"6","key":"pbio.3003589.ref044","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1193","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cell.2006.10.040","article-title":"Large-scale sequencing reveals 21U-RNAs and additional microRNAs and endogenous siRNAs in C. elegans","volume":"127","author":"JG Ruby","year":"2006","journal-title":"Cell"},{"key":"pbio.3003589.ref045","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"270","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2164-9-270","article-title":"Functional characterization of endogenous siRNA target genes in Caenorhabditis elegans","volume":"9","author":"S Asikainen","year":"2008","journal-title":"BMC Genomics"},{"issue":"1","key":"pbio.3003589.ref046","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.1261\/rna.1972910","article-title":"Sorting of Drosophila small silencing RNAs partitions microRNA* strands into the RNA interference pathway","volume":"16","author":"M Ghildiyal","year":"2010","journal-title":"RNA"},{"issue":"14","key":"pbio.3003589.ref047","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gkaa472","article-title":"A universal method for the rapid isolation of all known classes of functional silencing small RNAs","volume":"48","author":"T Grentzinger","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nucleic Acids Res"},{"issue":"4","key":"pbio.3003589.ref048","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"465","DOI":"10.1016\/S0092-8674(01)00576-1","article-title":"On the role of RNA amplification in dsRNA-triggered gene silencing","volume":"107","author":"T Sijen","year":"2001","journal-title":"Cell"},{"issue":"4","key":"pbio.3003589.ref049","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"424","DOI":"10.1038\/s41556-021-00652-7","article-title":"PANDORA-seq expands the repertoire of regulatory small RNAs by overcoming RNA modifications","volume":"23","author":"J Shi","year":"2021","journal-title":"Nat Cell Biol"},{"issue":"8","key":"pbio.3003589.ref050","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pgen.1007590","article-title":"The methyltransferase HEN1 is required in Nematostella vectensis for microRNA and piRNA stability as well as larval metamorphosis","volume":"14","author":"V Modepalli","year":"2018","journal-title":"PLoS Genet"},{"key":"pbio.3003589.ref051","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7554\/eLife.69464","volume":"11","author":"AM Tripathi","year":"2022","journal-title":"eLife"},{"issue":"2","key":"pbio.3003589.ref052","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"938","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gkw792","article-title":"Conservation of miRNA-mediated silencing mechanisms across 600 million years of animal evolution","volume":"45","author":"M Mauri","year":"2017","journal-title":"Nucleic Acids Res"},{"issue":"1","key":"pbio.3003589.ref053","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"8","DOI":"10.1186\/s12983-024-00529-z","article-title":"Updated single cell reference atlas for the starlet anemone Nematostella vectensis","volume":"21","author":"AG Cole","year":"2024","journal-title":"Front Zool"},{"key":"pbio.3003589.ref054","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kozlovski I, Sharoni T, Levy S, Jaimes-Becerra A, Talice S, Kwak HJ. Functional characterization of specialized immune cells in a cnidarian reveals an ancestral antiviral program. bioRxiv. 2025. 2025.01.24.634691. https:\/\/www.biorxiv.org\/content\/10.1101\/2025.01.24.634691v2","DOI":"10.1101\/2025.01.24.634691"},{"issue":"6669","key":"pbio.3003589.ref055","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"806","DOI":"10.1038\/35888","article-title":"Potent and specific genetic interference by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans","volume":"391","author":"A Fire","year":"1998","journal-title":"Nature"},{"issue":"8","key":"pbio.3003589.ref056","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"991","DOI":"10.1101\/gad.1074403","article-title":"The microRNAs of Caenorhabditis elegans","volume":"17","author":"LP Lim","year":"2003","journal-title":"Genes Dev"},{"issue":"1","key":"pbio.3003589.ref057","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cell.2018.03.006","article-title":"Metazoan microRNAs","volume":"173","author":"DP Bartel","year":"2018","journal-title":"Cell"},{"issue":"12","key":"pbio.3003589.ref058","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1237","DOI":"10.1515\/BC.2009.135","article-title":"The mechanism of ATP-dependent RNA unwinding by DEAD box proteins","volume":"390","author":"M Hilbert","year":"2009","journal-title":"Biol Chem"},{"issue":"7","key":"pbio.3003589.ref059","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.ppat.1012320","article-title":"Induction of apoptosis by double-stranded RNA was present in the last common ancestor of cnidarian and bilaterian animals","volume":"20","author":"I Kozlovski","year":"2024","journal-title":"PLoS Pathog"},{"issue":"23","key":"pbio.3003589.ref060","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2505","DOI":"10.15252\/embj.201695086","article-title":"Inactivation of the type I interferon pathway reveals long double-stranded RNA-mediated RNA interference in mammalian cells","volume":"35","author":"PV Maillard","year":"2016","journal-title":"EMBO J"},{"issue":"4","key":"pbio.3003589.ref061","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"435","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chom.2013.09.002","article-title":"Reciprocal inhibition between intracellular antiviral signaling and the RNAi machinery in mammalian cells","volume":"14","author":"GJ Seo","year":"2013","journal-title":"Cell Host Microbe"},{"issue":"11","key":"pbio.3003589.ref062","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3275","DOI":"10.1016\/j.celrep.2018.05.049","article-title":"Inhibition of microprocessor function during the activation of the type I interferon response","volume":"23","author":"J Witteveldt","year":"2018","journal-title":"Cell Rep"},{"key":"pbio.3003589.ref063","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7554\/eLife.44171","article-title":"MicroRNA-deficient mouse embryonic stem cells acquire a functional interferon response","volume":"8","author":"J Witteveldt","year":"2019","journal-title":"Elife"},{"issue":"3","key":"pbio.3003589.ref064","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"27","DOI":"10.1038\/s41559-016-0027","article-title":"The evolutionary origin of plant and animal microRNAs","volume":"1","author":"Y Moran","year":"2017","journal-title":"Nat Ecol Evol"},{"issue":"6","key":"pbio.3003589.ref065","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1128\/microbiolspec.FUNK-0008-2016","article-title":"RNA interference in fungi: retention and loss","volume":"4","author":"FE Nicol\u00e1s","year":"2016","journal-title":"Microbiol Spectr"},{"issue":"6049","key":"pbio.3003589.ref066","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1592","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1209575","article-title":"Compatibility with killer explains the rise of RNAi-deficient fungi","volume":"333","author":"IA Drinnenberg","year":"2011","journal-title":"Science"},{"issue":"2","key":"pbio.3003589.ref067","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"182","DOI":"10.1038\/s41559-022-01951-4","article-title":"Origins and diversification of animal innate immune responses against viral infections","volume":"7","author":"RE Iwama","year":"2023","journal-title":"Nat Ecol Evol"},{"issue":"9","key":"pbio.3003589.ref068","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1101\/pdb.prot5281","article-title":"Induction of spawning in the starlet sea anemone Nematostella vectensis, in vitro fertilization of gametes, and dejellying of zygotes","volume":"2009","author":"G Genikhovich","year":"2009","journal-title":"Cold Spring Harb Protoc"},{"issue":"5","key":"pbio.3003589.ref069","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"924","DOI":"10.1038\/nprot.2013.009","article-title":"Microinjection of mRNA or morpholinos for reverse genetic analysis in the starlet sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis","volume":"8","author":"MJ Layden","year":"2013","journal-title":"Nat Protoc"},{"issue":"2","key":"pbio.3003589.ref070","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"264","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ydbio.2007.07.029","article-title":"Early development and axis specification in the sea anemone Nematostella vectensis","volume":"310","author":"JH Fritzenwanker","year":"2007","journal-title":"Dev Biol"},{"issue":"15","key":"pbio.3003589.ref071","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gks596","article-title":"Primer3\u2014new capabilities and interfaces","volume":"40","author":"A Untergasser","year":"2012","journal-title":"Nucleic Acids Res"},{"key":"pbio.3003589.ref072","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7554\/eLife.35014","article-title":"Dynamics of venom composition across a complex life cycle. S\u00e1nchez Alvarado A, editor","volume":"7","author":"YY Columbus-Shenkar","year":"2018","journal-title":"eLife"},{"issue":"6","key":"pbio.3003589.ref073","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1101","DOI":"10.1038\/nprot.2008.73","article-title":"Analyzing real-time PCR data by the comparative C(T) method","volume":"3","author":"TD Schmittgen","year":"2008","journal-title":"Nat Protoc"},{"issue":"12","key":"pbio.3003589.ref074","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2929","DOI":"10.1105\/tpc.19.00395","article-title":"MicroRNA dynamics and functions during Arabidopsis embryogenesis","volume":"31","author":"A Plotnikova","year":"2019","journal-title":"Plant Cell"},{"issue":"1","key":"pbio.3003589.ref075","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"37","DOI":"10.1093\/nar\/gkr688","article-title":"miRDeep2 accurately identifies known and hundreds of novel microRNA genes in seven animal clades","volume":"40","author":"MR Friedl\u00e4nder","year":"2012","journal-title":"Nucleic Acids Res"},{"issue":"3","key":"pbio.3003589.ref076","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1186\/gb-2009-10-3-r25","article-title":"Ultrafast and memory-efficient alignment of short DNA sequences to the human genome","volume":"10","author":"B Langmead","year":"2009","journal-title":"Genome Biol"},{"issue":"1","key":"pbio.3003589.ref077","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"139","DOI":"10.1093\/bioinformatics\/btp616","article-title":"edgeR: a bioconductor package for differential expression analysis of digital gene expression data","volume":"26","author":"MD Robinson","year":"2010","journal-title":"Bioinformatics"},{"issue":"6","key":"pbio.3003589.ref078","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1188","DOI":"10.1101\/gr.849004","article-title":"WebLogo: a sequence logo generator","volume":"14","author":"GE Crooks","year":"2004","journal-title":"Genome Res"},{"issue":"2","key":"pbio.3003589.ref079","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"180","DOI":"10.1101\/pdb.prot072942","article-title":"Gel purification of RNA","volume":"2013","author":"TW Nilsen","year":"2013","journal-title":"Cold Spring Harb Protoc"},{"issue":"3","key":"pbio.3003589.ref080","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"836","DOI":"10.1038\/s44319-024-00350-z","article-title":"miRNA-target complementarity in cnidarians resembles its counterpart in plants","volume":"26","author":"Y Admoni","year":"2025","journal-title":"EMBO Rep"},{"issue":"7053","key":"pbio.3003589.ref081","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1040","DOI":"10.1038\/nature03870","article-title":"Animal virus replication and RNAi-mediated antiviral silencing in Caenorhabditis elegans","volume":"436","author":"R Lu","year":"2005","journal-title":"Nature"},{"issue":"7","key":"pbio.3003589.ref082","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"671","DOI":"10.1038\/nmeth.2089","article-title":"NIH Image to ImageJ: 25 years of image analysis","volume":"9","author":"CA Schneider","year":"2012","journal-title":"Nat Methods"}],"container-title":["PLOS Biology"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pbio.3003589","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,5]],"date-time":"2026-01-05T19:19:15Z","timestamp":1767640755000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dx.plos.org\/10.1371\/journal.pbio.3003589"}},"subtitle":[],"editor":[{"given":"Ren\u00e9 F.","family":"Ketting","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"editor","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,5]]},"references-count":82,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,5]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pbio.3003589","relation":{},"ISSN":["1545-7885"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1545-7885","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,5]]}}}