Phenotypic silencing of cytoplasmic genes using sequence-specific double-stranded short interfering RNA and its application in the reverse genetics of wild type negative-strand RNA viruses

摘要

BackgroundPost-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) by short interfering RNA has opened up new directions in the phenotypic mutation of cellular genes. However, its efficacy on non-nuclear genes and its effect on the interferon pathway remain unexplored. Since directed mutation of RNA genomes is not possible through conventional mutagenesis, we have tested sequence-specific 21-nucleotide long double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) for their ability to silence cytoplasmic RNA genomes.