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Journal ArticleDOI

Post-transcriptional gene silencing by double-stranded RNA

TLDR
The power of RNA interference, the process by which double-stranded RNA induces the silencing of homologous endogenous genes, is slowly becoming clear, and might help to develop an effortless tool to probe gene function in cells and animals.
Abstract
Imagine being able to knock out your favourite gene with only a day's work. Not just in one model system, but in virtually any organism: plants, flies, mice or cultured cells. This sort of experimental dream might one day become reality as we learn to harness the power of RNA interference, the process by which double-stranded RNA induces the silencing of homologous endogenous genes. How this phenomenon works is slowly becoming clear, and might help us to develop an effortless tool to probe gene function in cells and animals.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

Duplexes of 21-nucleotide RNAs mediate RNA interference in cultured mammalian cells

TL;DR: 21-nucleotide siRNA duplexes provide a new tool for studying gene function in mammalian cells and may eventually be used as gene-specific therapeutics.
Journal ArticleDOI

Asymmetry in the assembly of the RNAi enzyme complex.

TL;DR: It is shown that the two strands of an siRNA duplex are not equally eligible for assembly into RISC, and it is suggested that single-stranded miRNAs are initially generated as siRNA-like duplexes whose structures predestine one strand to enter the RISC and the other strand to be destroyed.
Journal ArticleDOI

Functional anatomy of siRNAs for mediating efficient RNAi in Drosophila melanogaster embryo lysate.

TL;DR: Duplexes of 21–23 nucleotide RNAs are the sequence‐specific mediators of RNA interference and post‐transcriptional gene silencing and mismatches in the centre of the siRNA duplex prevent target RNA cleavage, providing a rational basis for the design of siRNAs in future gene targeting experiments.
Journal ArticleDOI

Dicer functions in RNA interference and in synthesis of small RNA involved in developmental timing in C. elegans

TL;DR: A combination of phenotypic abnormalities and RNA analysis suggests a role for dcr-1 in a regulatory pathway comprised of small temporal RNA (let-7) and its target (e.g., lin-41).
Journal ArticleDOI

An enhanced transient expression system in plants based on suppression of gene silencing by the p19 protein of tomato bushy stunt virus.

TL;DR: A system based on co-expression of a viral-encoded suppressor of gene silencing, the p19 protein of tomato bushy stunt virus, that prevents the onset of PTGS in the infiltrated tissues and allows high level of transient expression is described.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Potent and specific genetic interference by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans

TL;DR: To their surprise, it was found that double-stranded RNA was substantially more effective at producing interference than was either strand individually, arguing against stochiometric interference with endogenous mRNA and suggesting that there could be a catalytic or amplification component in the interference process.
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Role for a bidentate ribonuclease in the initiation step of RNA interference

TL;DR: Dicer is a member of the RNase III family of nucleases that specifically cleave double-stranded RNAs, and is evolutionarily conserved in worms, flies, plants, fungi and mammals, and has a distinctive structure, which includes a helicase domain and dualRNase III motifs.
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How cells respond to interferons

TL;DR: The Janus kinases and signal transducers and activators of transcription, and many of the interferon-induced proteins, play important alternative roles in cells, raising interesting questions as to how the responses to the interFERons intersect with more general aspects of cellular physiology and how the specificity of cytokine responses is maintained.
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An RNA-directed nuclease mediates post-transcriptional gene silencing in Drosophila cells

TL;DR: It is shown that ‘loss-of-function’ phenotypes can be created in cultured Drosophila cells by transfection with specific double-stranded RNAs, which coincides with a marked reduction in the level of cognate cellular messenger RNAs.
Journal ArticleDOI

A species of small antisense RNA in posttranscriptional gene silencing in plants.

TL;DR: The 25-nucleotide antisense RNA detected in transgene-induced PTGS is likely synthesized from an RNA template and may represent the specificity determinant of PTGS.
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