Process
Gene expression
Using a gene's information to make its product. Cells switch genes on and off as conditions change.
RNA interference
Double-stranded RNA silences genes whose sequence matches it.Source: Fire et al., 1998
Also called RNAi.
Process
How RNA interference connects
RNA interference controls
RNA interference uses
Level of life
RNA
A single-stranded relative of DNA. Messenger RNA carries a gene's instructions to ribosomes, and other RNAs help build proteins and control genes.
Studied in
Your progress
Sources & further reading
The explanations on this page are our own summaries of these sources. Follow a link to read the original; if anything here disagrees with it, the original wins. How we choose and check sources.
Potent and specific genetic interference by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans (opens the original in a new tab)
Fire A, Xu S, Montgomery MK, et al. (1998). Nature 391:806-811.
Discovery of RNA interference.
Peer-reviewedPrimary research