RNAi can eliminate GFP expression (green) only in cells making SID-1 (red).

Hunter/AAAS

Atransmembrane protein identified by Craig Hunter and colleagues (Harvard University) may act as a channel that allows an RNAi signal to spread throughout a worm's body and, perhaps, even a mouse or human body.

RNAi may target the double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) forms of invading viruses or mobile transposons, but in the laboratory dsRNA is used to trigger the destruction of mRNAs with the same sequence. In worms and, in a similar process, in plants, the destruction spreads systemically.

“This systemic effect greatly simplifies the use of RNAi as a genetic tool,” says Hunter, as worms can even be treated by soaking them in a solution of dsRNA. “But nobody has addressed it experimentally to discover how it works.” Hunter set out to find mutants that could still do localized RNAi, in cells...

The Rockefeller University Press
2002
The Rockefeller University Press
2002
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