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Updated: Jul 11, 2026

RNAi Screening to Identify Postembryonic Phenotypes in C. elegans
Published on: February 13, 2012
A role for the RNase III enzyme DCR-1 in RNA interference and germ line development in Caenorhabditis elegans
1Department of Biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Utah, 50 North Medical Drive, Room 211, Salt Lake City, UT 84132, USA.
Abstract:
An early event in RNA interference (RNAi) is the cleavage of the initiating double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) to short pieces, 21 to 23 nucleotides in length. Here we describe a null mutation in dicer-1 (dcr-1), a gene proposed to encode the enzyme that generates these short RNAs. We find that dcr-1(-/-) animals have defects in RNAi under some, but not all, conditions. Mutant animals have germ line defects that lead to sterility, suggesting that cleavage of dsRNA to short pieces is a requisite event in normal development.
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