Project description:In addition to silencing intended target genes, transfected siRNAs regulate numerous unintended transcripts through a mechanism in which the equivalent of a microRNA-like seed region in the siRNA recognizes complementary sequences in transcript 3' UTRs. The ability to limit such off-target effects would substantially facilitate accurate interpretation of RNA interference (RNAi) experiments and thus greatly enhance their value. We tested whether lentivirus-mediated delivery of shRNA is prone to the seed region-based off-target activity prevalent in siRNA experiments. We compared target gene silencing and overall impact on global gene expression caused by multiple 21-mer duplex sequences delivered as both transfected siRNA and lentivirus vector-expressed shRNA. At equivalent levels of target gene silencing, signatures induced by shRNAs were significantly smaller than those induced by cognate siRNAs and arose less frequently from seed region activity. Interestingly, the low level of seed-region based off-target activity exhibited by shRNAs resulted in down-regulation of transcripts that were largely distinct from those regulated by siRNAs. On the basis of these observations, we recommend lentivirus-mediated RNA interference for pathway profiling experiments that measure whole genome transcriptional readouts as well as for large-scale screens when resources for extensive follow up are limited.
Project description:Transfected siRNAs and miRNAs regulate numerous transcripts that have only limited complementarity to the active strand of the RNA duplex. This process reflects natural target regulation by miRNAs, but is an unintended (“off-target”) consequence of siRNA-mediated silencing. Here we demonstrate that this unintended off-target silencing is widespread, and occurs in a manner reminiscent of target silencing by miRNAs. A high proportion of unintended transcripts silenced by siRNAs showed 3’ UTR sequence complementarity to the seed region of the siRNA. Base mismatches within the siRNA seed region reduced the set of original off-target transcripts but generated new sets of silenced transcripts with sequence complementarity to the mismatched seed sequence. An inducible shRNA silenced a subset of transcripts that were silenced by an siRNA of the same sequence, demonstrating that unintended silencing is sequence-mediated and is independent of delivery method. In all cases, off-target transcript silencing was accompanied by loss of the corresponding protein and occurred with similar dependence on siRNA concentration as silencing of the target transcript. These results demonstrate that short stretches of sequence complementarity to the seed region of the siRNA are key to the silencing of unintended transcripts, and that this limits the specificity of siRNA-mediated transcript silencing. Because these off-target events are sequence-dependent, inclusion of multiple independent siRNAs to the target of interest can help to distinguish true positives from false positives in functional genetic analyses. Keywords: siRNA, RNAi, sequence alignment, off-target, seed region
Project description:Transfected siRNAs regulate numerous transcripts sharing limited complementarity to the RNA duplex. This unintended (“off-target”) silencing can hinder the use of RNAi to define gene function. Here we describe position-specific, sequence-independent chemical modifications that reduced silencing of partially-complementary transcripts by all siRNAs tested. Silencing of perfectly-matched targets was unaffected by these modifications. The chemical modification also reduced off-target phenotypes in growth inhibition studies. Key to the modification was 2’-O-methyl ribosyl substitution at position 2 in the guide strand, which reduced silencing of most off-target transcripts with complementarity to the seed region of the siRNA guide strand. The sharp position-dependence of 2’-O-methyl ribosyl modification contrasts with the broader position dependence of base pair substitutions within the seed region, suggesting a role for position 2 of the guide strand distinct from its effects on pairing to target transcripts. Keywords: Microarray analysis, chemical modification walk, dose response
Project description:Transfected siRNAs and miRNAs regulate numerous transcripts that have only limited complementarity to the active strand of the RNA duplex. This process reflects natural target regulation by miRNAs, but is an unintended (â??off-targetâ??) consequence of siRNA-mediated silencing. Here we demonstrate that this unintended off-target silencing is widespread, and occurs in a manner reminiscent of target silencing by miRNAs. A high proportion of unintended transcripts silenced by siRNAs showed 3â?? UTR sequence complementarity to the seed region of the siRNA. Base mismatches within the siRNA seed region reduced the set of original off-target transcripts but generated new sets of silenced transcripts with sequence complementarity to the mismatched seed sequence. An inducible shRNA silenced a subset of transcripts that were silenced by an siRNA of the same sequence, demonstrating that unintended silencing is sequence-mediated and is independent of delivery method. In all cases, off-target transcript silencing was accompanied by loss of the corresponding protein and occurred with similar dependence on siRNA concentration as silencing of the target transcript. These results demonstrate that short stretches of sequence complementarity to the seed region of the siRNA are key to the silencing of unintended transcripts, and that this limits the specificity of siRNA-mediated transcript silencing. Because these off-target events are sequence-dependent, inclusion of multiple independent siRNAs to the target of interest can help to distinguish true positives from false positives in functional genetic analyses. For details, please see A.L. Jackson, et al. 2006. RNA 12(7): 1179-1187. We used consensus genelists for clustering. Please see attached tables for genelists.
Project description:Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) conjugated to a trivalent N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) ligand are being evaluated in investigational clinical studies for a variety of indications. The typical development candidate selection process includes evaluation of the most active compounds for toxicity in rats at pharmacologically-exaggerated doses. The subset of GalNAc-siRNAs that show rat hepatotoxicity is not advanced to clinical development. Potential mechanisms of hepatotoxicity include toxicities associated with the intracellular accumulation of oligonucleotides and their metabolites, RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated hybridization-based off-target effects, and/or perturbation of endogenous RNAi pathways. Here we show that rodent hepatotoxicity observed at supratherapeutic exposures can be largely attributed to RNAi-mediated off-target effects, but not chemical modifications or the perturbation of RNAi pathways. Furthermore, these off-target effects can be mitigated by modulating seed-pairing using a thermally destabilizing chemical modification, which significantly improves the safety profile of a GalNAc-siRNA in rat and may minimize the occurrence of hepatotoxic siRNAs across species.
Project description:Preclinical mechanistic studies have pointed towards RNAi-mediated off-target effects as a major driver of hepatotoxicity for GalNAc-siRNA conjugates. Here we demonstrate that a single glycol nucleic acid (GNA) modification can substantially reduce siRNA seed-mediated binding to off-target transcripts while maintaining on-target activity. In siRNAs with established off-target effects leading to hepatotoxicity, these Enhanced Stabilization Chemistry plus (ESC+) designs exhibit a substantially improved therapeutic window in rat. We utilized this strategy to improve the safety of ALN-HBV, which exhibited dose-dependent, transient, and asymptomatic alanine aminotransferase elevations in healthy volunteers.
Project description:Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a candidate crop for production of plant-based vaccines by genetic engineering technologies. MucoRice-CTB has been developed as a rice-seed-based vaccine against cholera by transgenic expression of modified cholera toxin B-subunit (CTB) under the RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated suppression of endogenous seed storage proteins. Here, we performed non-targeted metabolomic profiling of MucoRice-CTB to understand the overall effects of the genetic engineering on rice seed metabolism using gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry.
Project description:RNAi mediated suppression of MADS29 severely affects seed set; the surviving seeds are smaller in size with reduced grain filling, abnormal starch grains and aberrant embryo development. To identify the affected pathways due to suppression of this transcription factor in the transgenic seeds, transcriptome analysis using microarray was carried out. Three biological replicates of MADS29 RNAi (silencing) lines and Wild Type PB1 (control) plants were used for microarray study