title: On the art of identifying effective and specific siRNAs.
abstract: Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) have been widely exploited for sequence-specific gene knockdown, predominantly to investigate gene function in cultured vertebrate cells, and also hold promise as therapeutic agents. Because not all siRNAs that are cognate to a given target mRNA are equally effective, computational tools have been developed based on experimental data to increase the likelihood of selecting effective siRNAs. Furthermore, because target-complementary siRNAs can also target other mRNAs containing sequence segments that are partially complementary to the siRNA, most computational tools include ways to reduce potential off-target effects in the siRNA selection process. Though these methods facilitate selection of functional siRNAs, they do not yet alleviate the need for experimental validation. This perspective provides a practical guide based on current wisdom for selecting siRNAs.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Laboratory of RNA Molecular Biology, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, Box 186, New York, New York 10021, USA.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tuschl
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006801:Humans; D034622:RNA Interference; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D012984:Software
chemical_list: D034741:RNA, Small Interfering