Molecular Info®

Molecular Info® Copy Right © 2001 Institute of Molecular Development LLC

RNA: Guiding Gene Silencing Marjori Matzke, Antonius J. M. Matzke, Jan M. Kooter The Science, August 2001, 293: 1080 - 1083. In diverse organisms, small RNAs derived from cleavage of double-stranded RNA can trigger epigenetic gene silencing in the cytoplasm and at the genome level. Small RNAs can guide posttranscriptional degradation of complementary messenger RNAs and, in plants, transcriptional gene silencing by methylation of homologous DNA sequences. RNA silencing is a potent means to counteract foreign sequences and could play an important role in plant and animal development.