Abstract
Posttranscriptional gene silencing in Caenorhabditis elegans results from exposure to double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), a phenomenon designated as RNA interference (RNAi), or from co-suppression, in which transgenic DNA leads to silencing of both the transgene and the endogenous gene. Here we show that single-stranded RNA oligomers of antisense polarity can also be potent inducers of gene silencing. As is the case for co-suppression, antisense RNAs act independently of the RNAi genes rde-1 and rde-4 but require the mutator/RNAi gene mut-7 and a putative DEAD box RNA helicase, mut-14. Our data favor the hypothesis that gene silencing is accomplished by RNA primer extension using the mRNA as template, leading to dsRNA that is subsequently degraded.
MeSH terms
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Amino Acid Motifs
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Animals
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Caenorhabditis elegans / embryology
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Caenorhabditis elegans / enzymology
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Caenorhabditis elegans / genetics*
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / chemistry
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / genetics
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / metabolism*
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Carrier Proteins / genetics
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Carrier Proteins / metabolism
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DEAD-box RNA Helicases / chemistry
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DEAD-box RNA Helicases / genetics
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DEAD-box RNA Helicases / metabolism*
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Gene Silencing*
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Genes, Helminth*
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Genes, Reporter
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Green Fluorescent Proteins
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Luminescent Proteins / genetics
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Luminescent Proteins / metabolism
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Mutation
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Oligoribonucleotides / genetics
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RNA Helicases / chemistry
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RNA Helicases / genetics
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RNA Helicases / metabolism*
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RNA, Antisense / genetics*
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RNA, Double-Stranded / genetics
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RNA, Helminth / genetics
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RNA, Helminth / metabolism
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RNA, Messenger / genetics
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RNA, Messenger / metabolism
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RNA-Binding Proteins
Substances
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
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Carrier Proteins
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Luminescent Proteins
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Oligoribonucleotides
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POS-1 protein, C elegans
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RNA, Antisense
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RNA, Double-Stranded
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RNA, Helminth
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RNA, Messenger
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RNA-Binding Proteins
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Green Fluorescent Proteins
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DEAD-box RNA Helicases
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MUT-14 protein, C elegans
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RNA Helicases