Summary
RNA interference (RNAi) is a form of posttranscriptional gene silencing mediated by microRNA (miRNA) and small interfering RNA (siRNA). In Drosophila melanogaster, the RNase III enzymes Dicer-1 and Dicer-2 generate miRNA and siRNA, respectively. We describe the methods for the expression, purification, and analysis of recombinant Dicer-1 and Dicer-2 enzymes. Our studies demonstrate that Dicer-1 and Dicer-2 display different substrate specificities and ATP requirements.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Hannon, G. J. (2002). ,.RNA interference. Nature 418, 244–251.
Bartel, D. P. (2004). MicroRNAs: Genomics, biogenesis, mechanism, and function. Cell 116,281–297.
Filipowicz, W., Jaskiewicz, L., Kolb, F. A., and Pillai, R. S. (2005). Post-transcriptional gene silencing by siRNAs and miRNAs. Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 15, 331–341.
Sontheimer, E. J., and Carthew, R. W. (2005). Silence from within: Endogenous siRNAs and miRNAs. Cell 122, 9–12.
Esquela-Kerscher, A., and Slack, F. J. (2006). Oncomirs—MicroRNAs with a role in cancer. Nat. Rev. Cancer 6, 259–269.
Plasterk, R. H. (2006). MicroRNAs in animal development. Cell 124, 877–881.
Tomari, Y., and Zamore, P. D. (2005). Perspective: Machines for RNAi. Genes Dev. 19, 517–529.
Tang, G. (2005). siRNA and MiRNA: An insight into RISC. Trends Biochem. Sci. 30, 106–114.
Carmell, M. A., and Hannon, G. J. (2004). RNase III enzymes and the initiation of gene silencing. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 11, 214–218.
Zhang, H., Kolb, F. A., Jashiewicz, L., Westhof, E., and Filipowicz, W. (2004). Single processing center models for human Dicer and bacterial Rnase III. Cell 118, 57–68.
MacRae, I. J., Zhou, K., Li, F., et al. (2006). Structural basis for double-stranded RNA processing by Dicer. Science 311, 195–198.
Bernstein, E., Caudy, A. A., Hammond, S. M., and Hannon, G. J. (2001). Role for a bidentate ribonuclease in the initiation step of RNA interference. Nature 409, 363–366.
Ketting, R. F., Fischer, S. E., Bernstein, E., Sijen, T., Hannon, G. J., and Plasterk, R. H. (2001). Dicer functions in RNA interference and in synthesis of small RNA involved in developmental timing in C. elegans. Genes Dev. 15, 2654–2659.
Lee, Y. S., Nakahara, K., Pham, J. W., et al. (2004). Distinct roles for Drosophila Dicer-1 and Dicer-2 in the RNAi/miRNA silence pathway. Cell 117, 69–81.
Liu, Q., Rand, T. A., Kalidas, S., et al. (2003). R2D2, a bridge between the initiation and effector steps of the Drosophila RNAi pathway. Science 301, 1921–1925.
Jiang, F., Ye, X., Liu, X., Fincher, L., McKearin, D., and Liu, Q. (2005). Dicer-1 and R3D1-L catalyze microRNA maturation in Drosophila. Genes Dev. 19, 1674–1679.
Saito, K., Ishizuka, A., Siomi, H., and Siomi, M. C. (2005). Processing of pre-microRNAs by the Dicer-1-Loquacious complex in Drosophila cells. PLoS Biol. 3, e235.
Forstemann, K., Tomari, Y., Du, T., et al. (2005). Normal microRNA maturation and germ-line stem cell maintenance requires Loquacious, a double-stranded RNA-binding domain protein. PLoS Biol. 3, e236.
Tomari, Y., Matranga, C., Haley, B., Martinez, N., and Zamore, P. D. (2004). A protein sensor for siRNA asymmetry. Science 306, 1378–1380.
Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. Zain Paroo for critical reading of the manuscript and Feng Jiang for technical assistance. Q. L. is a W. A. “Tex” Moncrief Jr. Scholar in Medical Research and a Damon Runyon Scholar supported by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation (DRS-43). The work is also supported by a Welch grant (I-1608).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Humana Press, a part of Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Ye, X., Liu, Q. (2008). Expression, Purification, and Analysis of Recombinant Drosophila Dicer-1 and Dicer-2 Enzymes. In: Barik, S. (eds) RNAi. Methods in Molecular Biology™, vol 442. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-191-8_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-191-8_2
Publisher Name: Humana Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-58829-874-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-59745-191-8
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols