Dernburg A F, Zalevsky J, Colaiácovo M P, Villeneuve A M
Departments of Developmental Biology and Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305-5329, USA.
Genes Dev. 2000 Jul 1;14(13):1578-83.
Functional silencing of chromosomal loci can be induced by transgenes (cosuppression) or by introduction of double-stranded RNA (RNAi). Here, we demonstrate the generality of and define rules for a transgene-mediated cosuppression phenomenon in the Caenorhabditis elegans germ line. Functional repression is not a consequence of persistent physical association between transgenes and endogenous genes or of mutations in affected genes. The cosuppression mechanism likely involves an RNA mediator that defines its target specificity, reminiscent of RNAi. Cosuppression is strongly abrogated in rde-2 and mut-7 mutants, but is not blocked in an rde-1 mutant, indicating that cosuppression and RNAi have overlapping but distinct genetic requirements.
染色体位点的功能沉默可由转基因（共抑制）或通过引入双链RNA（RNA干扰）诱导产生。在此，我们证明了秀丽隐杆线虫生殖系中转基因介导的共抑制现象的普遍性并确定了其规则。功能抑制并非转基因与内源基因之间持续物理关联的结果，也不是受影响基因发生突变的结果。共抑制机制可能涉及一种决定其靶标特异性的RNA介质，这类似于RNA干扰。在rde - 2和mut - 7突变体中，共抑制作用被强烈消除，但在rde - 1突变体中未被阻断，这表明共抑制和RNA干扰具有重叠但不同的遗传需求。
