Position-specific chemical modification of siRNAs reduces "off-target" transcript silencing
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ABSTRACT: Transfected siRNAs regulate numerous transcripts sharing limited complementarity to the RNA duplex. This unintended (“off-target”) silencing can hinder the use of RNAi to define gene function. Here we describe position-specific, sequence-independent chemical modifications that reduced silencing of partially-complementary transcripts by all siRNAs tested. Silencing of perfectly-matched targets was unaffected by these modifications. The chemical modification also reduced off-target phenotypes in growth inhibition studies. Key to the modification was 2’-O-methyl ribosyl substitution at position 2 in the guide strand, which reduced silencing of most off-target transcripts with complementarity to the seed region of the siRNA guide strand. The sharp position-dependence of 2’-O-methyl ribosyl modification contrasts with the broader position dependence of base pair substitutions within the seed region, suggesting a role for position 2 of the guide strand distinct from its effects on pairing to target transcripts. Keywords: Microarray analysis, chemical modification walk, dose response
ORGANISM(S): Homo sapiens
PROVIDER: GSE5769 | GEO | 2006/09/07
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA97111
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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