Effective Pol III-expressed long hairpin RNAs targeted to multiple unique sites of HIV-1

Methods Mol Biol. 2010:629:159-74. doi: 10.1007/978-1-60761-657-3_11.

Abstract

The RNA interference (RNAi) pathway has in recent years been exploited for the development of novel antiviral therapies. The emergence of viral escape mutants, however, is a major impediment to the use of RNAi effectors to treat highly mutable viruses such as HIV-1. A combinatorial approach is therefore required for long-term inhibition of gene expression. RNA Pol III-driven long hairpin RNA (lhRNA) duplexes can be cleaved several times by Dicer, yielding multiple functional siRNAs from a single construct. Here we describe a method for the generation of ectopically expressed U6-lhRNAs encoding three separate siRNA sequences targeting unique sites in HIV-1. This methodological overview explains some crucial aspects of lhRNA design and cloning as well as facile experiments to determine their efficacy in cell culture.

MeSH terms

  • Base Sequence
  • Blotting, Northern
  • Cell Line
  • DNA Polymerase III / metabolism*
  • Gene Knockdown Techniques
  • Gene Transfer Techniques*
  • Genetic Vectors / genetics
  • HIV-1 / genetics*
  • Humans
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Nucleic Acid Conformation*
  • Plasmids / genetics
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • RNA, Small Nuclear / chemistry*
  • RNA, Small Nuclear / genetics
  • RNA, Small Nuclear / metabolism*

Substances

  • RNA, Small Nuclear
  • U6 small nuclear RNA
  • DNA Polymerase III