© 2009 Oxford University Press
This article appears in the following Nucleic Acid Symposium Series issue: The 6th International Symposium on Nucleic Acids Chemistry (36th Symposium on Nucleic Acids Chemistry) [View the issue table of contents]
Synthetic nanocircular RNA for controlling of gene expression
1RIKEN Advanced Science Institute, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wako, Saitama, 351-0198 Japan and 2Department of Life Science and Medical Bio-Science, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Ohkubo, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8555, Japan
*Corresponding author. E-mail: h-abe{at}riken.jp
Abstract
We designed and synthesized dumbbell-shaped nanocircular RNAs for RNA interference applications, which consist of a stem and two loops1. RNA dumbbells are specifically recognized and cleaved by the human Dicer enzyme, and are thus transformed into double-stranded RNA in cells, although this RNA is resistant to degradation in serum. The structure was optimized to maximize its RNAi activity. The most potent activity was achieved when the stem length was 23 base pairs. The RNAi activity is prolonged by the shape of the molecule, an endless structure, compared with that of normal siRNA.