Abstract
RNA interference(RNAi) is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that responds to double-stranded RNA(dsRNA) by sequence-specific silencing of homologous genes. RNAi has been used as a reverse genetic tool to study gene function in multiple model organisms, including Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila. However, one obstacle to achieving RNAi in mammal cells is that dsRNAs longer than 30nt will activate an antiviral response, leading to the cell death. This obstacle has been recently overcome by Elbashir et al who found that RNAi in mammalian cells can be achieved by chemically synthesized short interfering RNA(siRNA) that are 21nt in length, short enough to evade the host interferon response. Therefore, now this technique can be broadly used for analysis of mammalian gene functions. Furthermore, DNA vector-based approach has been also developed. We will report a practical and theoretical update on our and others approaches to silencing mammalian genes, and discuss the possible application of this new technology. [J Radiat Res 44:381-382 (2003)]
