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Current Molecular Medicine

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1566-5240
ISSN (Online): 1875-5666

Silencing of Disease-related Genes by Small Interfering RNAs

Author(s): U. Fuchs, C. Damm-Welk and A. Borkhardt

Volume 4, Issue 5, 2004

Page: [507 - 517] Pages: 11

DOI: 10.2174/1566524043360492

Price: $65

Abstract

In recent years a new mechanism of posttranscriptional gene silencing has been discovered and named RNA interference. The interference is based on mRNA degradation mediated by small double-stranded RNA molecules approximately 21 nucleotides in length, the so-called short interfering or siRNAs. These molecules are produced from long dsRNAs by Dicer, a dsRNA-specific endonuclease, and cause specific degradation of their mRNA-targets by Watson-Crick base-pairing within a 300 kD multi-enzyme complex named RISC. RNAi is highly conserved between plants and animals of various phyla including mammals. The high sequence-specificity of RNAi makes it a new, promising tool in gene-function analysis as well as in potential therapeutics. In this review the discovery and molecular background of RNAi are summarized and possible fields of application pointed out.

Keywords: rnai, dicer, risc, ptgs, cancer, treatment strategies


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