Cheng Hui, Zhang Yuanyuan, Wang Hongyan, Sun Na, Liu Min, Chen Hongxia, Pei Renjun
College of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China and Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China.
Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China.
Mol Biosyst. 2016 Oct 18;12(11):3370-3376. doi: 10.1039/c6mb00540c.
Riboswitches are functional non-coding RNA regulatory components that play an important role in the regulation of gene expression in diverse organisms. In particular, using riboswitches to modulate RNA interference (RNAi) enables temporal and spatial control of gene expression in mammalian cells. Herein, a ribozyme gene switch to activate RNAi was fabricated for the artificial regulation of versatile gene silencing through the interaction of an RNA aptamer with small molecules. The device comprised an allosteric HDV ribozyme with an embedded theophylline aptamer and a primary miRNA (pri-miRNA) to silence the MAP4K4 gene in hepatic (HepG2) cells, aiming to achieve dose-dependent control of the activation of RNAi, and then the regulation of the MAP4K4 gene by theophylline. Finally, we demonstrated the feasibility and applicability of utilizing HDV ribozyme switches to activate RNAi for regulating an endogenous gene in mammalian cells.
