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RNA‐regulatory machines and development of new therapeutics
Author(s) -
Rana Tariq M.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.25.1_supplement.314.2
RNA‐mediated gene silencing (RNAi) is initiated by double stranded RNA helix that can be exogenously introduced or endogenously created from small non‐coding RNAs called micro RNAs. RNAi has become a standard experimental tool in virtually every biology lab and the therapeutic potential of this technology is aggressively being harnessed. Understanding the structure and function of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that trigger RNAi has illuminated broad functions of the ancient RNAi machinery in animals and plants and has provided guidelines to achieve efficient gene silencing for biological and therapeutic applications of RNAi. I will discuss our current understanding of various gene silencing mechanisms and a few examples of therapeutic applications in antiviral, metabolic, and neurodegeneration disease models.