RNA interference technology
Book Section
RNA interference (RNAi) is the biological process of mRNA degradation induced by complementary sequences double-stranded (ds) small interfering RNAs (siRNA) and suppression of target gene expression. Exogenous siRNAs (perfectly paired dsRNAs of ~21-25 nt in length) play an important role in host defense against RNA viruses and in transcriptional and post-transcriptional gene regulation in plants and other eukaryotes. Using RNAi technology by transfecting synthetic siRNAs into eukaryotic cells to silence genes has become an indispensable tool to investigate gene functions, and siRNA-based therapy is being developed to knockdown genes implicated in diseases. Other examples of RNAi technology include method of producing highly potent and purified siRNAs directly from Escherichia coli cells, based on an unexpected discovery that ectopic expression of p19, a plant viral siRNA-binding protein, stabilizes a cryptic siRNA-like RNA species in bacteria. Those siRNAs, named as pro-siRNA for “prokaryotic siRNA”, are bacterial RNase III products that have chemical and functional properties that like eukaryotic siRNAs.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Xu, W; Jiang, X; Huang, L
Published Date
- January 1, 2019
Book Title
- Comprehensive Biotechnology
Start / End Page
- 560 - 575
International Standard Book Number 13 (ISBN-13)
- 9780444640468
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1016/B978-0-444-64046-8.00282-2
Citation Source
- Scopus