Production of phenocopies by Krüppel antisense RNA injection into Drosophila embryos.

The demonstration that a specific messenger RNA can be functionally inactivated in vivo by hybridization to complementary polynucleotide sequences suggests a direct approach to the study of gene function in cells of higher organisms. The experiments described here were designed to inhibit, by complementary RNA sequences, a specific gene function affecting the fate of the Drosophila embryo. We used the SP6 vector in vitro transcription system to transcribe parts of the normally untranscribed (nonsense) strand of the Krüppel (Kr) gene into complementary Kr RNA (Kr antisense RNA). Wild-type Drosophila embryos, injected with this RNA, developed into phenocopies of Kr mutant embryos.