How does RNAi silence gene function?
The RNAi pathway is initiated by the processing of long dsRNAs of endogenous or exogenous origin by an endonuclease called Dicer. The resulting short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are about 21 to 23 nucleotides in length and are incorporated into a nuclease complex, the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), which then targets and destroys message RNAs complementary to the siRNAs. Delivery of synthetic siRNAs or plasmid DNAs encoding short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) into mammalian cells has been shown to elicit specific and robust RNAi-mediated gene silencing, or ‘knock-down’. Return to top.
