Small interfering RNA and gene silencing in transgenic mice and rats.
After short duplexes of synthetic 21-23 nt RNAs (siRNA) were reported to be effective in silencing specific genes, a vector-based approach for siRNAs was demonstrated in mammalian cultured cell lines. However, the effect of RNA interference (RNAi) on various differentiated cells in live animals remains unknown. In this report, we demonstrate that transgenically supplied siRNA can silence ubiquitously expressed enhanced green fluorescent protein in every part of the mouse and rat body. These results suggest that transgenic RNAi could function as an alternative method of gene silencing by applying homologous recombination to embryonic stem (ES) cells, and should be successful even in species where ES cell lines remain unestablished.
Hasuwa
Hidetoshi
H
Genome Information Research Center, Osaka University, Yamadaoka 3-1, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
Kaseda
Kazuhiro
K
Einarsdottir
Thorbjorg
T
Okabe
Masaru
M
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D034622:RNA Interference; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics*; D051381:Rats
D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins