RNA interference (RNAi) is a phenomenon in which double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) silences endogenous gene expression. By injecting pools of dsRNAs into Caenorhabditis elegans, we identified a dsRNA that acts as a potent suppressor of the RNAi mechanism. We have used coinjection of dsRNAs to identify four additional candidates for genes involved in the RNAi mechanism in C. elegans. Three of the gene...

RNA interference (RNAi) is a broadly used reverse genetics method in C. elegans. Unfortunately, RNAi does not inhibit all genes. We show that loss of function of a putative RNA-directed RNA polymerase (RdRP) of C. elegans, RRF-3, results in a substantial enhancement of sensitivity to RNAi in diverse tissues. This is particularly striking in the nervous system; neurons that are generally refract...

With unprecedented speed, RNA interference (RNAi) has advanced from its basic discovery in lower organisms to becoming a powerful genetic tool and perhaps our single most promising biotherapeutic for a wide array of diseases. Numerous studies document RNAi efficacy in laboratory animals, and the first clinical trials are underway and thus far suggest that RNAi is safe to use in humans. Yet subs...

Modern plant breeding is still a time-consuming and costly process, even with the most advanced technologies such as gene editing. Hence, there an urgent need to develop alternative means for trait manipulation protection. RNA interference (RNAi) conserved cellular mechanism mediated by naturally occurring double-stranded (dsRNA) small RNAs (sRNAs) that can target mRNAs destruction or transcrip...

The centromere DNA locus on a eukaryotic chromosome facilitates faithful chromosome segregation. Despite performing such a conserved function, centromere DNA sequence as well as the organization of sequence elements is rapidly evolving in all forms of eukaryotes. The driving force that facilitates centromere evolution remains an enigma. Here, we studied the evolution of centromeres in closely r...

Systematic adsorption studies reveal comparable characteristics of dsRNA and DNA to iron oxides, suggesting that information on in soils can inform fate predictions environmental risk assessment RNAi crops.

Although inhibition of RNA interference (RNAi) by plant virus proteins has been shown to enhance viral replication and pathogenesis in plants, no viral gene product has as yet been shown to inhibit RNAi in vertebrate cells. Here, we present evidence demonstrating that the highly structured approximately 160-nucleotide adenoviral VA1 noncoding RNA can inhibit RNAi at physiological levels of expr...

With unprecedented speed, RNA interference (RNAi) has advanced from its basic discovery in lower organisms to becoming a powerful genetic tool and perhaps our single most promising biotherapeutic for a wide array of diseases. Numerous studies document RNAi efficacy in laboratory animals, and the first clinical trials are underway and thus far suggest that RNAi is safe to use in humans. Yet subs...

RNAi refers to the sequence-specific degradation of RNA that follows the cellular introduction of homologous short interfering (si) RNA. RNAi has emerged as a powerful tool to probe the function of genes of known sequence in vitro and in vivo. Advances in vector design permit the effective expression of siRNA in human cells. Numerous recent investigations have described the ability of RNAi to d...