shRNA or siRNA – which is right for my studies?
The ‘functional’ component of RNAi is the short interfering RNA, or siRNA. siRNAs can be synthesized, or can be the product of Dicer-processing of long dsRNAs or shRNAs. The choice between synthetic siRNAs and expressed shRNAs depends upon the requirements of the study. Synthetic siRNAs are delivered by transient transfection, and have been used successfully for one-off validation studies and highly-parallel cell-based screens. shRNAs differ in that they can be expressed from DNA vectors delivered by transient transfection or viral transduction. This allows for short- or long-term expression in a wide variety of cells, including difficult to transfect cells and in vivo models. DNA-encoded shRNAs can also be used for pooled shRNA selection studies. Please contact the RNAi Core for assistance with design of your studies. Return to top.
