Zhang J, Hua Z C
State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Nanjing University, 22 Hankou Road, Nanjing, 210093 China.
Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2004 Feb;5(1):1-7. doi: 10.2174/1389201043489558.
RNA interference (RNAi) has emerged as a powerful tool for the silencing of gene expression in animals and plants. RNAi is mediated by approximately 21-nt small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), which are originally produced from larger double stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) in vivo through the action of Dicer. Recently, many groups have reported systems designed to express siRNAs in mammalian cells through transfection of either oligonucleotides or plasmids encoding siRNAs. Although the use of siRNAs to silence genes in vertebrate cells was only reported three years ago, the emerging literature indicates that most vertebrate genes can be studied with this technology. This review summarizes some approaches to generate siRNAs, the delivery and application of siRNAs to target cells and the utility of siRNAs as analytical and potential therapeutic tools.
RNA干扰（RNAi）已成为动植物基因表达沉默的有力工具。RNAi由大约21个核苷酸的小干扰RNA（siRNA）介导，这些小干扰RNA最初是在体内通过Dicer的作用从较大的双链RNA（dsRNA）产生的。最近，许多研究小组报道了通过转染编码siRNA的寡核苷酸或质粒在哺乳动物细胞中表达siRNA的系统。尽管三年前才报道了使用siRNA使脊椎动物细胞中的基因沉默，但新出现的文献表明，大多数脊椎动物基因都可以用这项技术进行研究。本综述总结了一些生成siRNA的方法、siRNA向靶细胞的递送和应用以及siRNA作为分析工具和潜在治疗工具的效用。
