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Screening for gene function in chicken embryo using RNAi and electroporation

Nature Biotechnology volume 21, pages 93–96 (2003)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 February 2003

Abstract

In the postgenomic era the elucidation of the physiological function of genes has become the rate-limiting step in the quest to understand the development and function of living organisms. Gene functions cannot be determined by high-throughput methods but require analysis in the context of the entire organism. This is particularly true in the developing vertebrate nervous system1. Because of its easy accessibility in the egg, the chicken embryo has been the model of choice for developmental in vivo studies. However, its usefulness has been hampered by a lack of methods for genetic manipulation. Here we describe an approach that could compensate for this disadvantage. By combining gene silencing by dsRNA2 (through RNA interference, RNAi) with in ovo electroporation3,4, we developed an efficient method to induce loss of gene function in vivo during the development of the chicken CNS. This method opens new possibilities for studying gene function not only by gain-of-function but also by loss-of-function approaches and therefore represents a new tool for functional genomics.

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Figure 1: Demonstration of the efficiency of RNAi for interference with gene function in vivo.
Figure 2: In ovo RNAi produces specific and reproducible phenotypes in the embryonic chicken spinal cord.
Figure 3: A cDNA fragment is sufficient for the analysis of gene function in vivo by RNAi.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Monika Mielich for excellent technical assistance. This work was carried out at the University of Basel, Institute of Zoology, and was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Ott Foundation, and the Human Frontier Science Program Organization.

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  1. University of Zurich, Institute of Zoology, Winterthurerstrasse 190, Zurich, CH-8057, Switzerland

    Vladimir Pekarik, Dimitris Bourikas, Nicola Miglino, Pascal Joset, Stephan Preiswerk & Esther T. Stoeckli

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  1. Vladimir Pekarik
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Correspondence to Esther T. Stoeckli.

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Pekarik, V., Bourikas, D., Miglino, N. et al. Screening for gene function in chicken embryo using RNAi and electroporation. Nat Biotechnol 21, 93–96 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt770

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