siRNA delivery technologies for mammalian systems

Abstract

Inhibition of gene expression using the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway is rapidly becoming the method of choice for studying gene function in mammalian cells. However, successful knockdown of the target gene requires efficient delivery of short interfering RNAs (siRNAs). Several technologies have been developed that enable effective delivery of siRNAs to both cells in culture and whole animals. These technologies will allow the use of RNAi to study gene function in mammalian model systems in which classical methods are often limited and costly.