Meeting review : ESF workshop on "Impact of nucleic acid chemistry on gene function analysis: antisense, aptamers, ribozymes and RNAi"

  • The shortage of functional information compared to the abundance of sequence information characterizes today’s situation in functional genomics. For many years the knock-down of a gene’s product has been the most powerful way of analysing its function. In addition to the complete knock-out by homologous recombination, several different techniques have been developed to temporarily knock down gene expression through methods based on specific sequence recognition, such as knockdown by antisense oligonucleotides, ribozymes, aptamers or RNAi. The ESF workshop on ‘Impact of Nucleic Acid Chemistry on Gene Function Analysis’ brought together researchers who use techniques that are different but highly related. It offered an opportunity for an in-depth discussion of recent progress and common problems. Antisense oligonucleotides aptamers and ribozymes are techniques that have been used successfully for many years to validate targets. However, recent developments, such as increased tightness of binding (e.g. locked nucleic acids) or the combination of different methods (e.g. using aptamers to design ribozymes), have continued to improve the existing techniques. RNA interference (RNAi) is a defence mechanism of the cell against viruses. Since the exact mechanism of action within the cell is still unclear, RNAi was a particularly exciting topic at the workshop and was addressed in the largest number of presentations. Predictability of positional effects (accessibility of RNA) is a problem shared by all techniques using sequence-specific recognition and was the subject of quite controversial debates. The meeting comprised over 50 people from 14 countries (13 European countries and the USA).

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Author:Kathrin Heermeier, Hans Prydz, Jutta Reinhard-Rupp, Joachim W. EngelsORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-60267
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/cfg.186
ISSN:1532-6268
ISSN:1531-6912
Pubmed Id:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18629053
Parent Title (English):Comparative and functional genomics
Publisher:Wiley InterScience ; Hindawi
Place of publication:Chichester [u. a.] ; New York, NY
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2008/11/12
Year of first Publication:2002
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2008/11/12
Volume:3
Issue:5
Page Number:6
First Page:441
Last Page:446
Note:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Source:Comparative and Functional Genomics. 2002 October; 3(5): 441–446. ; doi:10.1002/cfg.186 ; http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=18629053
HeBIS-PPN:208599231
Institutes:Biochemie, Chemie und Pharmazie / Biochemie und Chemie
Dewey Decimal Classification:5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 57 Biowissenschaften; Biologie / 570 Biowissenschaften; Biologie
Sammlungen:Sammlung Biologie / Sondersammelgebiets-Volltexte
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung 3.0