Summary
RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful tool in deciphering gene function. It has been used extensively, especially in cultured mammalian cells. We have shown that RNAi-induced gene silencing can be generated in mice. With conventional transgenic techniques, shRNA-expressing constructs can be introduced into one-cell mouse embryos. The transgenic animals so obtained exhibit reduced expression of the targeted genes. Furthermore, the knockdown effect can be transmitted through the germline in these animals. We describe a method of generating a transgenic RNAi mouse line.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Fire, A., Xu, S., Montgomery, M. K., Kostas, S. A., Driver, S. E., and Mello, C. C. (1998). Potent and specific genetic interference by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans Nature 391, 806–811.
Wianny, F., Zernicka-Goetz, M., Wianny, F., and Zernicka-Goetz, M. (2000). Specific interference with gene function by double-stranded RNA in early mouse development Nat. Cell. Biol. 2, 70–75.
Svoboda, P., Stein, P., Hayashi, H., and Schultz, R. M. (2000). Selective reduction of dormant maternal mRNAs in mouse oocytes by RNA interference Development 127, 4147–4156.
Svoboda, P., Stein, P., and Schultz, R. M. (2001). RNAi in mouse oocytes and preimplantation embryos: Effectiveness of hairpin dsRNA Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 287, 1099–1104.
Meurs, E., Chong, K., Galabru, J., et al. (1990). Molecular cloning and characterization of the human double-stranded RNA-activated protein kinase induced by interferon Cell 62, 379–390.
Minks, M. A., West, D. K., Benvin, S., and Baglioni, C. (1979). Structural requirements of double-stranded RNA for the activation of 2\(^{\prime}\),5\(^{\prime}\)-oligo(A) polymerase and protein kinase of interferon-treated HeLa cells J. Biol. Chem. 254, 10180–10183.
Gil, J., and Esteban, M. (2000). Induction of apoptosis by the dsRNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR): Mechanism of action Apoptosis 5, 107–114.
Elbashir, S. M., Harborth, J., Lendeckel, W., Yalcin, A., Weber, K., and Tuschl, T. (2001). Duplexes of 21-nucleotide RNAs mediate RNA interference in cultured mammalian cells Nature 411, 494–498.
Brummelkamp, T. R., Bernards, R., and Agami, R. (2002). A system for stable expression of short interfering RNAs in mammalian cells Science 296, 550–553.
Carmell, M. A., Zhang, L., Conklin, D. S., Hannon, G. J., and Rosenquist, T. A. (2003). Germline transmission of RNAi in mice Nat. Struct. Biol. 10, 91–92.
Rubinson, D. A., Dillon, C. P., Kwiatkowski, A. V., et al. (2003). A lentivirus-based system to functionally silence genes in primary mammalian cells, stem cells and transgenic mice by RNA interference Nat. Genet. 33, 401–406.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Dr. S. Peng for technical help. This work was supported by Grants DK063964 and EY014745 from the National Institutes of Health.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Humana Press, a part of Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Zhang, P. (2008). Transgenic RNA Interference in Mice. In: Barik, S. (eds) RNAi. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 442. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-191-8_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-191-8_18
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-874-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-191-8
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols