Improved Vector Expresses Long Double-Strand RNA

It was developed by researchers at the Riken Tsukuba Institute (Japan) and was described in the June 1, 2003, issue of Genes & Development.

Since the transcripts from pDECAP lack both the 5'-cap structure and the 3'-poly(A) tail that facilitate ds-RNA export to the cytoplasm, long ds-RNA from pDECAP does not induce the interferon response. Transgenic mice embryos expressing long ds-RNA for the transcriptional co-repressor Ski from this vector exhibited phenotypes that were remarkably similar to those of Ski-deficient embryos, including defects of neural tube closure and eye formation.

Senior author Dr. Shunsuke Ishii, a senior researcher at the Riken Tsukuba Institute explained, "In the RNAi transgenic systems developed so far, small hairpin-type RNA is expressed from the RNA polymerase III promoter or the virus promoter. However, these systems cannot be utilized to knock down gene function in a tissue-specific manner, because these promoters are active in all types of cells. In our system, the RNA polymerase II promoter is utilized to express hairpin-type double-strand RNA (ds-RNA). Therefore, our system can be used to generate the tissue-specific knock-down mice.”




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Riken Tsukuba Institute