Photocaged morpholino oligomers for the light-regulation of gene function in zebrafish and Xenopus embryos.

ABSTRACT: Morpholino oligonucleotides, or morpholinos, have emerged as powerful antisense reagents for evaluating gene function in both in vitro and in vivo contexts. However, the constitutive activity of these reagents limits their utility for applications that require spatiotemporal control, such as tissue-specific gene disruptions in embryos. Here we report a novel and efficient synthetic route for incorporating photocaged monomeric building blocks directly into morpholino oligomers and demonstrate the utility of these caged morpholinos in the light-activated control of gene function in both cell culture and living embryos. We demonstrate that a caged morpholino that targets enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) disrupts EGFP production only after exposure to UV light in both transfected cell

SUBMITTER: Deiters A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3001396 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature