RNA interference: silencing in the cytoplasm and nucleus.

Abstract

Although the discovery that double-stranded RNA is able to silence gene expression was only made five years ago, methods for experimentally silencing genes have already been extended into a broad diversity of organisms, including human cells. RNA interference has also been discovered to function in physiological gene silencing. RNA interference works by causing degradation of targeted mRNAs in the cytoplasm. However, recent results suggest that RNA interference may also silence gene activity in the nucleus by remodeling chromatin and repressing the transcription of targeted genes.