INDUCTION OF METHYLATION OF CPG SEQUENCES BY DSRNAS IN MAMMALIAN CELLS

摘要

It is clarified that a synthetic short interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting a CpGisland-containing domain on a gene promoter specifically induces themethylation of CpG in the target region or the neighborhood thereof in a humancell. The methylation of the promoter regulates the expression of a geneencoded by the downstream thereof at the transcriptional level. Thus, it isintended to provide a method of inducing DNA methylation with the use of ansiRNA and a method of regulating gene expression via the methylation of apromoter by the siRNA. It is also intended to provide a DNA methylationinducer or a gene expression regulator containing the above siRNA or a vectorexpressing this siRNA or dsRNA.