Silencing genes with RNAi

RNA interference (RNAi) is mechanism for sequence-specific gene silencing that promises to revolutionize experimental biology and may have important therapeutic applications. See the reference listed below for some review articles on RNAi.

RNAi resources at the NCBI

The NCBI is developing databases to store the sequences of RNAi reagents and experimental results generated using those reagents. This page provides access to some sample data.

The Probe database is a comprehensive collection of oligonucleotide probes used in a variety of applications, including RNAi, gene expression assays, variation analysis, and molecular diagnosis. Each probe entry may be linked to experimental results and published articles. Probe is included as a database within the Entrez system.

How to submit data

Data submission tools are still under development. In the meantime, if you have data to submit, you may contact the database staff directly.

Submission

Selected review articles

Latest annual review

Dykxhoorn DM, Lieberman J. THE SILENT REVOLUTION: RNA Interference as Basic Biology, Research Tool, and Therapeutic. Annu Rev Med. 2005;56:401-23.

RNAi in groups of organisms

Mammals

Bantounas I, Phylactou LA et al. RNA interference and the use of small interfering RNA to study gene function in mammalian systems. J Mol Endocrinol. 2004 Dec;33(3):545-57.

Plants

Susi P, Hohkuri M et al. Characteristics of RNA silencing in plants: similarities and differences across kingdoms. Plant Mol Biol. 2004 Jan;54(2):157-74.

Pathogens

Cottrell TR, Doering TL. Silence of the strands: RNA interference in eukaryotic pathogens. Trends Microbiol. 2003 Jan;11(1):37-43.

Viruses

Tan FL, Yin JQ. RNAi, a new therapeutic strategy against viral infection. Cell Res. 2004 Dec;14(6):460-6.

Insects

Andres AJ. Flying through the genome: a comprehensive study of functional genomics using RNAi in Drosophila. Trends Endocrinol Metab. 2004 Aug;15(6):243-7.

Types of RNAi sequences

Long dsRNA

Svoboda P. Long dsRNA and silent genes strike back:RNAi in mouse oocytes and early embryos. Cytogenet Genome Res. 2004;105(2-4):422-34.

Short dsRNA (siRNA)

Gilmore IR, Fox SP et al. The design and exogenous delivery of siRNA for post-transcriptional gene silencing. J Drug Target. 2004 Jul;12(6):315-40.

More about RNAi in PubMed

• Reviews for last 3 months
• Publications for last 10 days

Glossary

How it works

RNAi projects

Other RNAi resources

siRNA design algorithms evaluation

Sætrom P, Snøve O Jr. A comparison of siRNA efficacy predictors. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2004 Aug 13;321(1):247-53.

On-line tools for designing RNAi probes
Design tool	Reference
DEQOR	Henschel A, Buchholz F et al.
EMBOSS SIRNA	Elbashir SM, Harborth J et al.
siRNA design	Yiu SM, Wong PW et al.
siRNA at Whitehead	Yuan B, Latek R et al.
T7 RNAi Oligo Designer	Dudek P, Picard D.
siDirect	Naito Y, Yamada T et al.
siSearch	Chalk AM, Wahlestedt C et al.