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Free energy lights the path toward more effective RNAi

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Silencing gene expression by RNA interference (RNAi) has become a daily activity for mammalian cell biologists. Those who often use this approach have come to appreciate its occasional frustrations and potential limitations. A pair of recent papers in Cell provides rules for designing short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that are both validated at the practical level and understood mechanistically.

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Figure 1: Doing it the natural way.
Figure 2: Habits of highly effective siRNAs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Watson School of Biological Sciences, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, 11724, New York, USA

    Jose M Silva, Ravi Sachidanandam & Gregory J Hannon

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  1. Jose M Silva
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  2. Ravi Sachidanandam
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  3. Gregory J Hannon
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Silva, J., Sachidanandam, R. & Hannon, G. Free energy lights the path toward more effective RNAi. Nat Genet 35, 303–305 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng1203-303

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