Perspective: machines for RNAi

Yukihide Tomari; Phillip D. Zamore

doi:10.1101/gad.1284105

Perspective: machines for RNAi

Yukihide Tomari and
Phillip D. Zamore1

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, USA

Abstract

RNA silencing pathways convert the sequence information in long RNA, typically double-stranded RNA, into ∼21-nt RNA signaling molecules such as small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs). siRNAs and miRNAs provide specificity to protein effector complexes that repress mRNA transcription or translation, or catalyze mRNA destruction. Here, we review our current understanding of how small RNAs are produced, how they are loaded into protein complexes, and how they repress gene expression.

Keywords

Footnotes

Article and publication at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.1284105.
↵1 Corresponding author. E-MAIL phillip.zamore{at}umassmed.edu; FAX (508) 856-2003.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press