The double-stranded RNA binding protein RDE-4 can act cell autonomously during feeding RNAi in C. elegans.

ABSTRACT: Long double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) can silence genes of matching sequence upon ingestion in many invertebrates and is therefore being developed as a pesticide. Such feeding RNA interference (RNAi) is best understood in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, where the dsRNA-binding protein RDE-4 initiates silencing by recruiting an endonuclease to process long dsRNA into short dsRNA. These short dsRNAs are thought to move between cells because muscle-specific rescue of rde-4 using repetitive transgenes enables silencing in other tissues. Here, we extend this observation using additional promoters, report an inhibitory effect of repetitive transgenes, and discover conditions for cell-autonomous silencing in animals with tissue-specific rescue of rde-4. While expression of rde-4(+) in intestine, hypo

SUBMITTER: Raman P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5737277 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature