Scientists have exploited the siRNA pathway toperform a technique called RNA interference—ameans to knock down the expression of a specificgene without having to make mutations in it. Theidea is to introduce dsRNA corresponding to thetarget gene into an organism; the dsRNA is thenprocessed into an siRNA that leads to the degradation of the target gene’s mRNA. One clever methodfor delivery of the dsRNA to some organisms (thenematode C. elegans, for example) is to feed thembacteria transformed with a recombinant plasmidthat expresses dsRNA.a. Draw a gene construct that, when expressed from aplasmid in bacteria, could be used to knock downby RNA interference the expression of gene X ofC. elegans.b. How can you test if gene X expression is obliterated in worms that have eaten the bacteria transformed with a plasmid containing your construct?c. Do you think that only gene X expression will beaffected in these worms? Explain.
Scientists have exploited the siRNA pathway to
perform a technique called RNA interference—a
means to knock down the expression of a specific
gene without having to make mutations in it. The
idea is to introduce dsRNA corresponding to the
target gene into an organism; the dsRNA is then
processed into an siRNA that leads to the degradation of the target gene’s mRNA. One clever method
for delivery of the dsRNA to some organisms (the
nematode C. elegans, for example) is to feed them
bacteria transformed with a recombinant plasmid
that expresses dsRNA.
a. Draw a gene construct that, when expressed from a
plasmid in bacteria, could be used to knock down
by RNA interference the expression of gene X of
C. elegans.
b. How can you test if gene X expression is obliterated in worms that have eaten the bacteria transformed with a plasmid containing your construct?
c. Do you think that only gene X expression will be
affected in these worms? Explain.
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