Lim Do-Hwan, Oh Chun-Taek, Han Sung-Jun, Lee Young Sik
College of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Korea University, Seoul, 136-713, South Korea.
Methods Mol Biol. 2014;1173:51-8. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-0931-5_5.
Endogenous small interfering RNAs (endo-siRNAs) are a newly emerged class of small regulatory RNAs. In Drosophila melanogaster, the production of endo-siRNAs depends on the RNase III enzyme Dicer-2 (Dcr-2). Loss of dcr-2 function reduces the resistance of adult flies to various stresses and shortens their life span. The mutants also exhibit alterations in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. These findings suggest that the endo-siRNA pathway plays a protective role during exposure to stress and aging in D. melanogaster, possibly by regulating metabolic homeostasis. Here, we describe the methods that were used to discover the phenotypes associated with endo-siRNA deficiency by using dcr-2 null mutants.
内源性小干扰RNA（endo-siRNAs）是一类新出现的小调节RNA。在黑腹果蝇中，endo-siRNAs的产生依赖于核糖核酸酶III（RNase III）酶Dicer-2（Dcr-2）。Dcr-2功能的丧失会降低成年果蝇对各种应激的抵抗力，并缩短其寿命。这些突变体在碳水化合物和脂质代谢方面也表现出改变。这些发现表明，endo-siRNA途径在黑腹果蝇受到应激和衰老过程中发挥保护作用，可能是通过调节代谢稳态来实现的。在这里，我们描述了通过使用dcr-2基因敲除突变体来发现与endo-siRNA缺陷相关表型的方法。
