Evidence of off-target effects associated with long dsRNAs in Drosophila cell-based assays

ABSTRACT: To evaluate the specificity of long dsRNAs used in high-throughput RNAi screens performed at the Drosophila RNAi Screening Center (DRSC), we performed a global analysis of their activity in 30 genome-wide screens completed at our facility. Surprisingly, our analysis predicts that dsRNAs containing ≥19 nucleotide perfect matches identified in silico to unintended targets may contribute to a significant false positive error rate arising from off-target effects. We confirmed experimentally that such sequences in dsRNAs lead to false positives and to the efficient knockdown of a cross-hybridizing transcript, raising a cautionary note when interpreting results based on the use of a single dsRNA per gene. Although a full appreciation of all causes of false positive errors remains to be determined, we suggest simple guidelines to help ensure high quality information from RNAi high-throughput screens Keywords: Specificity of long dsRNAs, Drosophila melanogaster, SL2 cell line, custom cDNA arrays, off-target effects, Drosophila RNAi Screening Center (DRSC)

ORGANISM(S): Drosophila melanogaster

PROVIDER: GSE5554 | GEO | 2006/08/18

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA96053

REPOSITORIES: GEO