ArticleLife (Basel, Switzerland)2022
Viroids and Viroid-like Circular RNAs: Do They Descend from Primordial Replicators?
Article in Life (Basel, Switzerland), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Identification of hot spring Obelisk-like RNA replicons and expanded diversity of the Obelisk superfamily.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Target, silence, replace: a review on RNA-based drugs in modern medicine.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Review
- Identification of Obelisk-like covalently closed circular RNA replicon in hot springs by double-stranded RNA sequencing and expansion of the diversity of the Obelisk superfamily.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Advancing RNA phage biology through meta-omics.Nucleic acids research · 2025Review
- Diversity and evolution of viroids and viroid-like agents with circular RNA genomes revealed by metatranscriptome mining.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
- Viroid-like "obelisk" agents are widespread in the ocean and exceed the abundance of RNA viruses in the prokaryotic fraction.The ISME journal · 2025Article
- Viroids and Retrozymes: Plant Circular RNAs Capable of Autonomous Replication.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Uncovered diversity of infectious circular RNAs: A new paradigm for the minimal parasites?Npj viruses · 2024Review
- Viroids, Satellite RNAs and Prions: Folding of Nucleic Acids and Misfolding of Proteins.Viruses · 2024Article
- Circular RNA in Non-small Cell Lung Carcinoma: Identification of Targets and New Treatment Modalities.Cancer genomics & proteomics · 2023Review
- Genome Sequence of a New Carnation Small Viroid-Like RNA, CarSV-1.Microbiology resource announcements · 2023Article
- Article
- Self-empowerment of life through RNA networks, cells and viruses.F1000Research · 2023Review
- The Potential of Purinergic Signaling to Thwart Viruses Including SARS-CoV-2.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Viroids are a unique class of plant pathogens that consist of small circular RNA molecules, between 220 and 450 nucleotides in size. Viroids encode no proteins and are the smallest known infectious agents. Viroids replicate via the rolling circle mechanism, producing multimeric intermediates which are cleaved to unit length either by ribozymes formed from both polarities of the viroid genomic RNA or by coopted host RNAses. Many viroid-like small circular RNAs are satellites of plant RNA viruses. Ribozyviruses, represented by human hepatitis delta virus, are larger viroid-like circular RNAs that additionally encode the viral nucleocapsid protein. It has been proposed that viroids are direct descendants of primordial RNA replicons that were present in the hypothetical RNA world. We argue, however, that much later origin of viroids, possibly, from recently discovered mobile genetic elements known as retrozymes, is a far more parsimonious evolutionary scenario. Nevertheless, viroids and viroid-like circular RNAs are minimal replicators that are likely to be close to the theoretical lower limit of replicator size and arguably comprise the paradigm for replicator emergence. Thus, although viroid-like replicators are unlikely to be direct descendants of primordial RNA replicators, the study of the diversity and evolution of these ultimate genetic parasites can yield insights into the earliest stages of the evolution of life.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.