This family of plasmids is designed to cause RNA interference via the expression of small hairpin RNA (shRNA) and can be used in vitro or in vivo
GeneSilencer shRNA vectors induce RNA interference by the expression of small hairpin RNAs.
Inducing RNA interference of target genes is an effective method for studying gene function. The new GeneSilencer shRNA vectors developed by Gene Therapy Systems are now available from Cambridge BioScience.
This family of plasmids is designed to cause RNA interference via the expression of small hairpin RNA (shRNA) and can be used in vitro or in vivo.
The user clones a gene-specific shRNA coding sequence of 45-50 nucleotides downstream of an RNA polymerase III promoter.
Following transfection, the shRNA sequence will be expressed as a fold-back stem-loop structure that is subsequently processed inside the cell into functional siRNAs.
All the vectors contain either the U6 or the H1 RNA polymerase III promoter for high level expression in a wide variety of cell types. Additionally, the vectors are available with GFP reporter genes to allow easy determination of vector transfection efficiency. Vectors also contain a neomycin resistance gene for the selection of stable cell lines.
These vectors offer an effective way of producing and using siRNAs to study gene function.
Unlike the traditional chemical synthesis of siRNA, GeneSilencer shRNA vectors use cellular machinery to encode shRNAs from cloned sequences.
This method is more convenient and provides greater control over gene silencing experimental design.
These products are available from Cambridge BioScience in the UK and Ireland only.
