RNA interference
any process of posttranscriptional gene inactivation mediated by small RNA molecules that may trigger mRNA degradation or down-regulate translation
RNA interference (RNAi) is a biological process in which RNA molecules are involved in sequence-specific suppression of gene expression by double-stranded RNA, through translational or transcriptional repression. Historically, RNAi was known by other names, including co-suppression, post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS), and quelling. The detailed study of each of these seemingly different processes elucidated that the identity of these phenomena were all actually RNAi. Andrew Fire and Craig Mello shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their work on RNAi in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, which they published in 1998. Since the discovery of RNAi and its regulatory potentials, it has become evident that RNAi has immense potential in suppression of desired genes. RNAi is now known as precise, efficient, stable and better than antisense therapy for gene suppression. Antisense RNA produced intracellularly by an expression vector may be developed and find utility as novel therapeutic agents.
Two types of small ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules, microRNA (miRNA) and small interfering RNA (siRNA), are central to components to the RNAi pathway. Once mRNA is degraded, post-transcriptional silencing occurs as protein translation is prevented. Transcription can be inhibited via the pre-transcriptional silencing mechanism of RNAi, through which an enzyme complex catalyzes DNA methylation at genomic positions complementary to complexed siRNA or miRNA. RNAi has an important role in defending cells against parasitic nucleotide sequences (e.g., viruses or transposons) and also influences development of organisms.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “RNA interference” as any process of posttranscriptional gene inactivation mediated by small RNA molecules that may trigger mRNA degradation or down-regulate translation. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as any process of posttranscriptional gene inactivation mediated by small RNA molecules that may trigger mRNA degradation or down-regulate translation. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q201993. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2006 and 1998.
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This entry incorporates text from “RNA interference” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.