Functions and applications of RNA interference and small regulatory RNAs

• RNAi is a conserved gene regulatory mechanism involving small RNAs and Argonaute proteins, essential for gene silencing, antiviral defense, and genome integrity. • The review highlights the roles of RNAi in transposon silencing, fertility, development, immunity, stress responses, and transgenerational inheritance. • RNAi technology has broad applications in functional genomics, biomedical research, agriculture, and therapeutics. • Recent advances in RNA sequencing have expanded the discovery of novel small regulatory RNAs with important biological functions.