Morpholinos: Antisense and Sensibility.
For over 15 years, antisense morpholino oligonucleotides (MOs) have allowed developmental biologists to make key discoveries regarding developmental mechanisms in numerous model organisms. Recently, serious concerns have been raised as to the specificity of MO effects, and it has been recommended to discontinue their usage, despite the long experience of the scientific community with the MO tool in thousands of studies. Reviewing the many advantages afforded by MOs, we conclude that adequately controlled MOs should continue to be accepted as generic loss-of-function approach, as otherwise progress in developmental biology will greatly suffer.
Institute of Zoology, University of Hohenheim, 70593 Stuttgart, Germany. Electronic address: martin.blum@uni-hohenheim.de.
Martin
M
Blum
Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1662, USA.
Edward M
EM
De Robertis
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
John B
JB
Wallingford
Institute of Molecular Biology, 55128 Mainz, Germany; DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance, Division of Molecular Embryology, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: c.niehrs@imb-mainz.de.
Christof
C
Niehrs
D000818:Animals; D015509:Developmental Biology / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D060172:Morpholinos / Q000235:genetics*; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense / Q000235:genetics*; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development
D060172:Morpholinos; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense